Nov. 3 vs. Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio Network
Dallas Stars (8-5-1)
Washington Capitals (8-5-0)
The Caps continue their three-game homestand Tuesday night when the Dallas Stars make their lone visit of the season to DC. Tuesday’s tilt is the middle match of a three-game homestand for the Caps, who dropped the opener 5-1 to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon.
After spotting the Wild a 2-0 lead before the six-minute mark of the opening period, the Caps settled in and played the game they wanted to play through most of the remainder of the contest. Washington and Minnesota went at each other in what was a cleanly played, taut defensive struggle for most of the afternoon.
Justin Sourdif’s net front tip-in of a Cole Hutson shot from the right point cut the Wild’s cushion in half with 5.4 seconds remaining in the middle frame, but that’s as close as the Caps would get. Sourdif’s goal was the only goal of the game across a span of more than 52 minutes of playing time; Minnesota piled in a pair of power-play goals and an empty-netter in the game’s final 143 seconds.
“The last two periods, we found our game,” says Caps forward Boone Jenner of Sunday’s game. “But it’s tough when you spot them two in the first. Out of those 20 minutes, there’s a lot of good we can take out of that against a really stingy team defensively. I thought we were able to create chances because we were doing the right things. So, lots to learn from and to build on when you get in those games and those situations against teams that defend harder and are heavy like them.”
As they prepare to take on a Dallas team with some similar characteristics to the Wild, the Caps will be seeking more finish around the net against the Stars, the NHL’s most miserly defensive outfit. Dallas yields an average of 2.14 goals per game, the lowest rate in the League. Minnesota ranks third at 2.25.
For the first 17 minutes of the third period, the Caps were just a shot away from tying the game. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt excelled in his first career appearance against Washington, but Washington missed the mark on 19 shot tries and had 20 other bids blocked. Overall, the Caps managed 27 shots, 22 of which came in the game’s final 40 minutes.
“I honestly didn’t mind the traffic and the congestion in and around [Wallstedt],” said Caps coach Spencer Carbery immediately after the game. “Hit the net; I noticed we missed the net five, six times in good situations where you’re like, ‘Make him make a save.’
“I didn’t mind our traffic – I really didn’t – and the opportunities that we created; I thought we had enough. He is a top goaltender in this League for a reason. He’s playing real well.”
Things won’t get any easier with Dallas coming into the building on Tuesday. The Stars also permit the fewest shots per game (22.3) this season, they’re the NHL’s top face-off team (55.6 percent) and their penalty killing outfit (93.6 percent) also sits atop the circuit’s leaderboard.
“We understood the assignment and what was required when you play against a team like Minnesota for 40 minutes,” says Carbery. “You're hoping that our group takes away, ‘Okay, that's what it's going to feel like because it's going to be the exact same way [Tuesday] night against Dallas,’ against a team that's arguably – I mean, we're going to play the top two defensive teams in the National Hockey League the next two games: Dallas and Florida. [They’re] one and two, in expected goals against, depending on what model you look at.
“[They’re] really good defensive teams where they're not going to give you a lot of space in all three zones. They're top heavy in terms of elite, elite talent in their top six and their top pairs with Heiskanen and Harley – I know they play on different pairs – so it's going to feel very, very similar. And so, hopefully we take the experience of playing Minnesota and putting ourselves [in], digging ourselves a hole, and understand how difficult it's going to be through three periods against a really good hockey team.”
Defenseman Dylan McIlrath cleared waivers on Monday afternoon, and he was subsequently loaned to AHL Hershey. Timothy Liljegren was absent from Monday’s practice as a “maintenance day;” he logged 13:47 in ice time Sunday against the Wild, and he played into the final minute of the game.
In the three decades plus since the Minnesota North Stars packed up and moved to the Lone Star State, the Dallas Stars have been Washington’s most vexing longtime nemesis. The Caps have won only a dozen of the 48 meetings (6-12-1-4 at home and 6-16-0-3 in Dallas) since the franchise moved to Texas.
Last season, the Stars limited the Caps to a single goal in the two meetings between the two teams. Only an Alex Ovechkin goal with 2:19 remaining in the third period of the second of those games, on Jan. 7 of this year in the District. Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger blanked the Caps 1-0 in Dallas on Oct. 28, 2025. Oettinger carries a 6-0-0 career record with a pair of shutouts, a 1.25 GAA and a .958 save pct. lifetime against the Capitals into Tuesday’s game.
The Stars shook off a 2-3-1 start to the season with a five-game winning streak, and they’ve dropped two of three since then. Most recently, Dallas finished out a six-game homestand (4-2-0) with a 3-1 victory over Columbus on Saturday night. The Stars scored early in the first and late in the first to give Oettinger all the offense he’d need to pick up his seventh win of the season (7-3-1).
Tuesday’s game represents brief break in a home heavy stretch of schedule for the Stars, who will finish a two-game trip in Columbus on Thursday. Then the Stars return to Texas for another extended homestand, four games in duration.
