Back-To-Back – If the Caps are in Carolina (and they are), that must mean they played last night (and they did, in Boston). For the fourth time in their last four visits to Raleigh, the Caps are finishing up a set of back-to-back games against one of the League’s top teams.
“We welcome the challenge,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “It’s a difficult place to play when you’re rested, and obviously not easy when you’re coming in after playing last night, but we’re up to the challenge and I’m looking forward to seeing us respond tonight.”
Washington halted a three-game slide with a 4-3 win over the Bruins in Boston on Tuesday night, and Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 891 to creep a goal closer to Wayne Gretzky (894) for the perch on the NHL’s all-time goals ledger. Ten years ago tonight in Montreal, Ovechkin scored career goals 473 and 474 to surpass Peter Bondra for the top spot on Washington’s all-time franchise goals list. The Caps’ 5-4 over the Habs that night also marked the 600th victory in the coaching career of Barry Trotz.
Ryan Leonard, who signed his entry-level deal with Washington on Monday, made his NHL debut on Tuesday in Boston. Leonard will be in the lineup once again tonight; the Caps will trot out the same lineup that got the job done in Beantown.
“We talked about it as a staff, talked to him about it, and we feel like he is good to go physically and mentally, with what’s gone on over the last week,” says Carbery. “A good test for him – as difficult a team as there is to play in the National Hockey League on a back-to-back.
“It’s a good opportunity for him to take another step, and then also experience what it’s like to play A) against this team and B) in this environment, on a back-to-back in the National Hockey League.
The Caps have lost as many as three straight games only twice all season. Even consecutive setbacks have been rare for them in 2024-25; it’s happened three times. In the aftermath of each of those five instances of consecutive losses or three-game slides, they’ve stacked up multiple wins each time. They’ll be seeking to do the same tonight, but in a difficult environment.
Six Blade Knife – Scrolling through a list of this season’s top scorers in the NHL, you will find the highest scoring Capital – center Dylan Strome with 72 points – in 28th place in the League on this second morning of April. (Strome is the first Caps forward not named Ovechkin, Backstrom or Kuznetsov to reach the 70-point milestone since Alexander Semin racked up 84 points in 2009-10.)
You needn’t scroll much further for the next Capital, and the next, and the next. As of this morning, there are 64 NHL players with 60 or more points. The Washington Capitals are the only team in the League with five of those 60-point players on their roster all season; Dallas also has five, but it made a deal to add the fifth, Mikko Rantanen.
Only twice in franchise history have the Caps had six forwards reach 60 points in the same season, and if Connor McMichael can collect another half dozen points in Washington’s final eight games, they’ll achieve the feat for the first time since 1991-92.
Depth is and has been a legitimate weapon for the Caps this season. They’ve been able to spread the workload around more evenly than in recent seasons, and a lot of that is because of the strength and depth of their lineup, and in particular their top six forwards and their top six defensemen. Both groups have been both healthy consistent (knocks on wood).
We’ve written a lot in this space this season about the defense, which features six 20-point blueliners for the first time in franchise history. But the Caps’ top six forward group has been a primary driver of the team’s improvement this season. Virtually all have established career highs in points this season; Alex Ovechkin is not going to do that, but Strome, McMichael, Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson already have done so, and P-L Dubois is one point shy of joining them on that list.
Through 74 games this season, at least one member of the team’s top six has scored a goal in 64 of those 74 contests. The Caps are 3-5-2 in the 10 games in which the top six hasn’t been heard from, which includes a pair of shutout setbacks.
Two of those instances came on recent road trips, a 3-0 loss in Los Angeles on March 13 and a 4-2 setback in Minnesota exactly two weeks later, on March 27. During the Caps’ current three-game slide, top six scoring got scarcer, largely because shots weren’t always getting through.
During the life of Washington’s recent three-game winless run (0-2-1), their group of top six forwards generated 32 shots on net while missing 25 times and having 27 attempts blocked for a “shots through” percentage of just 38 percent. The Caps’ bottom six forward group had “shots through” percentage of 44.2 percent over that very tiny sample size.
Despite being held off the scoresheet in Minnesota, the top six group produced four goals in those three games, but only two of those – both from Ovechkin – came at 5-on-5.
“I think teams are doing a good job of blocking shots; we’ve played a bunch of teams now that have figured a way to limit our offense, so it’s about us finding a way to get around that,” says Strome. “I think in Minnesota we out-chanced them 65-30 or something, and I don’t know how many blocks they had, but teams are doing a good job of getting in the way. And so it’s our job to change shot angles, or shoot off net or find ways to get around that, but we’ve had a lot of puck possession these last three games, and that’s a good sign. So if we keep going with that and shore up the defensive side, it should be okay.”
It was well north of “okay” on Tuesday in Boston. The Caps’ top six (and we’re including McMichael here even though he wasn’t technically in the top six on Tuesday, Leonard was; the outcome doesn’t change much) fired 13 shots on net, while getting just three shots blocked and missing three times for a gaudy “shots through” percentage of 68.4 percent.
The group also produced three goals, only one of which came on the power play. They’ll seek a repeat performance tonight in a tough Carolina barn.
In The Nets – Logan Thompson starts tonight for the Capitals, his first appearance after he was dented for seven goals against on 22 shots against Buffalo on Sunday. Thompson has permitted as many as seven goals against only twice in his career – both times against Buffalo – and he has had a stellar season in 2024-25 and is one of the many reasons why the Caps sit atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Thompson is seeking his 32nd victory of the season tonight, and he will be making his first appearance against Carolina this season. In his only prior career start against the Canes, Thompson was pulled before game’s end. He yielded six goals in 29 shots over 44:44 in the net here in Raleigh on Dec. 19, 2023 when he was with Vegas.
Frederik Andersen is the likely starter for Carolina; he and Pyotr Kochetkov have been alternating starts since the League returned from the Four Nations Face-Off pause a month and a half ago. Lifetime against Washington, Andersen is 9-4-2 with two shutouts, a 2.61 GAA and a .913 save pct.
In a dozen career games against Andersen, Ovechkin has scored nine goals against him on 48 shots for an 18.8% shooting pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Hurricanes might look on Wednesday night in Raleigh:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 9-Leonard
88-Mangiapane, 20-Eller, 72-Beauvillier
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 24-McMichael
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
42-Fehervary, 52-McIlrath
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Extras
16-Raddysh
27-Alexeyev
53-Frank
Out/Injured
3-Roy (personal)
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
CAROLINA
Forwards
24-Jarvis, 20-Aho, 53-Blake
71-Hall, 96-Roslovic, 37-Svechnikov
48-Martinook, 82-Kotkaniemi, 22-Stankoven
50-Robinson, 77-Jankowski, 27-Jost
Defensemen
74-Slavin, 8-Burns
7-Orlov, 5-Chatfield
4-Gostisbehere, 26-Walker
Goaltenders
31-Andersen
52-Kochetkov
Extras
56-Morrow
Out/Injured
11-Staal (lower body)
28-Carrier (lower body)
71-Fast (upper body)
