Feb. 5 vs. Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Nashville Predators (26-23-7)
Washington Capitals (28-23-7)
The Caps host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in the District in their final game ahead of the NHL’s break of nearly three weeks to accommodate the League’s participation in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. Thursday’s contest is the last game the Caps will play until Feb. 25, when they spring back into action against Philadelphia in the opener of a two-game homestand.
Washington returns home from Philadelphia where it suffered a sour 4-2 setback at the hands of the Flyers on Tuesday night. The Caps believed they played well enough to earn a point or two from Tuesday’s tilt, the first of four remaining games against Philly. After falling down 2-0 early in the second period, the Caps gradually clawed their way back into the contest on Aliaksei Protas’ shorthanded goal in the second period and Anthony Beauvillier’s tying tally early in the third.
But after the two sides played over 27 minutes of hockey without a penalty being whistled, Caps center Justin Sourdif was sent off for a hooking call that seemed out of context with the way the previous 50-plus minutes of the game had been called.
Seconds after Sourdif was seated in the penalty box, Philadelphia defenseman Jamie Drysdale delivered a center point drive that resulted in the goal that snapped a 2-2 deadlock and won the game for the Flyers. The setback was tough to swallow for the Caps, and center Dylan Strome incurred a misconduct in the game’s waning seconds.
“It’s frustrating to come up short here,” says Beauvillier, who set up Protas’ goal and has three points (two goals, one assist) in his last two games. “I felt like we battled hard, came back in the game and we felt like we controlled most of the play, especially in the third [period]. It’s just frustrating to walk out of here without points.”
Now, the Caps have just one more opportunity to collect points ahead of the break, and that comes Thursday against the Predators. Nashville plays at home on Wednesday night, hosting Minnesota before finishing a set of back-to-backs in the District against the Capitals.
“We're in desperation mode; we have been for a bit,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “It's tight in the division, in the conference. But, I've been saying this for a little bit, because the break is so unique this year, I think it's sneaking up on a lot of people. All of a sudden, you come out of break and there's only [23] games left in the whole season. It's because usually the All-Star break – that’s where our brains go, is to All-Star break – is just over halfway through the season.
“It's different this year, you're going to be 60 games into your year coming back from the break. So, 20 games, we're going to need to go on a significant run here, and we'll finish off the right way, or try to do everything we can to finish the right way against Nashville.”
Carbery is correct about the perception of the break, but it’s also worse for Washington than for any other team in the NHL. The Capitals were the only team in the League to play as many as 22 games between the NHL’s annual holiday break and the Olympic break, and they’re also the only team heading into the break with 59 games under their belts on the season, most in the NHL.
That means the Caps – already fighting for their playoff lives, and on the outside looking in on the postseason picture – will have the shortest remaining schedule coming out of the break. It also means that every team they’re battling against to make it into the Stanley Cup playoffs will have games in hand coming out of the break.
Nashville will be finishing off a set of back-to-back games on Thursday in Washington. Hosting the Minnesota wild at home on Wednesday night, the Predators shook off a Matt Boldy hat trick in the first period to take a 4-3 lead early in the second. But Nashville couldn’t add to or retain that lead, and it fell 6-5 in overtime on Jared Spurgeon’s goal in the final minute of overtime.
After a slow start to the season, the Preds have turned things around and they’ve pulled themselves from the Western Conference basement up to 10th place, and within striking distance of the wild card playoff slots. Since starting 6-12-4, Nashville has played to a 20-11-3 mark since, including Wednesday’s overtime setback.
Wednesday’s game concludes the season series between the Caps and Preds. Nashville eked out a 3-2 win on Jan. 11 in the first meeting of the season, on the back end of Washington’s Mentors’ Trip.
