Feb. 3 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (28-22-7)
Philadelphia Flyers (24-20-10)
A night after taking a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders in the finale of the four-game season series between the two Metropolitan Division rivals, the Caps trained to Philadelphia where they will finally play the first of their four games against the Flyers this season. The Caps and Flyers will meet four times in a span of 18 games, and across the next 57 days.
Monday night’s win was the Caps’ third in succession, the first time they’ve strung that many victories together since their season-high six-game winning streak was snapped in early December. In defeating the Islanders, the Caps moved to within two points of New York – which holds a game in hand – for third place in the Metro Division standings.
With both of their regular goaltenders – Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren – on the sidelines with injuries, the Caps again turned to Clay Stevenson for Monday’s starting assignment, two days after he notched his first NHL victory in his first start in the League this season, a 4-3 overtime triumph over Carolina on Saturday in the District.
Stevenson was again sharp, stopping 29 of 30 shots to pick up his second NHL win in three nights.
“I’m more comfortable – I suppose – for sure,” says Stevenson. “Any experience you can pull off of and draw off of gives me a sense of calmness in the net, I guess. I said it out there too; the coaches and the guys, they just played maybe how they were going to play tonight, and some of their tendencies and stuff like that. I felt pretty ready in that regard, so that felt nice.”
For the Caps, winning a third straight game felt nice. Four different Caps found the back of the net as Washington struck for four unanswered goals – two in the second period and two in the third – after spotting the visitors a 1-0 lead late in the first.
Playing his 500th game in a Caps sweater, Nic Dowd helped set up the first Washington goal on Monday against New York, and he scored the crucial third goal midway through the third period, giving Stevenson and the Caps some welcome breathing room.
Dowd has two goals and an assist – and a critical shootout game-winner in Detroit – during the Caps’ three-game winning spree.
“I just think when we commit to getting pucks in deep,” begins Dowd, “and I know that's so cliché, but we have to our game comes below the tops of the circles in the [offensive] zone. And we have a lot of really highly skilled guys, but if we don't get there, those guys can't make those skilled plays. And we use our [defensemen] a ton, too. So we require our [defensemen] to make a lot of plays in the [offensive] zone, and they do, and that's what makes us successful.
“But if we never get there, then we just start relying on rush plays. And we have guys that can do that, but that's a tough way to live, especially when you're playing teams that play really good defense. The ironic thing is [if] you start creating a lot of plays in the corners and down low, below the tops of circles, those rush plays end up opening up, because teams are tired. You don't have gaps, they can't step up, the other team is trying to change and you're coming on the ice, that's where you get your opportunity. So, I think we've just done a better job of that.”
With Monday’s win, the Capitals improved to 11-3-2 this season against fellow Metro Division denizens. That leaves them 10 more Metro Division games among their remaining 25 contests this season, with four of the 10 coming against the Flyers, starting on Tuesday.
“They’ve played real well,” says Carbery. “I’ve watched a few. I think with some of the moves that they’ve made – [Christian] Dvorak, [Trevor] Zegras, the coaching change – I know they’ve hit a bit of a rough patch, but they’ve been a good team all year long.
“Having not seen them to this point is extremely rare, I would say. But going in there tomorrow, facing them for the first time, we’re going to have to get acclimated real quickly. And the urgency level inside of our game and the importance of [Tuesday] night doesn’t change for us.
For most of the season to date, the Flyers have been in or hanging near a playoff position themselves. But the Flyers have cooled with the flip of the calendar; although they won each of their first two games of calendar 2026, they endured a dismal 4-8-3 January to fall off the pace.
Philly enters Tuesday’s game in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings, and the Flyers are five points behind Washington. Philadelphia does hold three games in hand on Washington, and a full complement of four games remaining with the Caps.
