Jan. 9 vs. Chicago Blackhawks at United Center
Time: 8:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (22-16-6)
Chicago Blackhawks (18-18-7)
After a three-game homestand against a trio of Western Conference foes, the Caps take to the road for the next two games. They’ll head to the Midwest, and they’ll keep the Western Conference pattern going as they take on Chicago and Nashville, respectively. And they’ll do so with a much larger traveling party than usual; this two-game journey is also the Caps’ 2025-26 Mentors’ Trip.
Washington conducted its first Mentors’ trip in February, 2008 and this weekend’s trip will be the 16th edition. Since its inception, the Caps are 20-9-0 in Mentors’ Trip games.
The Caps are 44 games into the 2025-26 NHL season, and they’ve won precisely half of those games. Just over a month ago, the Caps were riding high with a six-game winning streak and sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. They’ve fallen into a cycle in which they’ve been unable to string wins together since, and as they take to the road with their Mentors for a long weekend trip, they’ve won only five of their last 16 games (5-7-4) since that winning streak was halted on Dec. 5 in Anaheim.
Washington’s season has been a tale of ups and downs thus far. After a strong 6-2-0 start to the season, the Caps hit a fallow stretch in which they went 2-6-2 in their next 10 games. That span of struggling was followed by an extended heater that lifted them up the standings; they went 9-1-1 in their next 11 contests. But in the 16 games since, they’ve again fallen off the pace.
While this second fallow stretch hasn’t been as dismal as the first one from a points percentage perspective, the Caps underlying numbers and analytics also haven’t been as strong. The schedule doesn’t and won’t get any easier, and the Capitals know they’ve got to steer their way back to playing more consistently strong hockey, and soon. Having the mentors along for the ride is typically an uplifting experience, and that’s the hope here this weekend after a lukewarm 1-1-1 homestand.
“Yeah, hopefully,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery, of the possibility of his team getting a lift from the Mentors’ Trip. “I think so, a good time. The way I saw this month was homestand, Mentors’ Trip, homestand, Western Canada [trip], and then those last four I think we have before [the Olympic break in February]. So, it kind of breaks it up a little bit, this final push to the Olympic break. So, I think it does come at a good time.”
In Wednesday’s homestand finale against Dallas, the Caps fell behind early on a shorthanded goal just over three minutes into the game, and the deficit deepened on a 4-on-4 goal early in the second period. Meanwhile, the Caps were unable to generate much in the way of an offense threat at all. Missing three of the biggest bodies of their forward group – P-L Dubois, Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson – the Caps were rarely able to find middle ice against the Stars in the Dallas end.
Only a late Alex Ovechkin goal – the 915th of his illustrious NHL career – late in the third period save Washington the ignominy of a shutout at the hands of Casey DeSmith and the Stars.
“I think it's hard to rely on your rush play at all times, right?” says Caps center Nic Dowd. “ I thought tonight we did a good job of creating rush opportunities versus a good team that doesn't lose three guys up ice, and we still did a good job of doing that. But I think it's tough to rely on that.
“You have to rely on breaking teams down defensively, and getting second, third, fourth opportunities. And if you do that for a 10-12 minute period and you roll it over, and you have all four lines doing that, eventually something positive is going to happen, right? It might not be a goal, but it's going to be momentum, it's going to be a drawn penalty; you're going to go on the power play. So, I think you’ve got to be comfortable playing the long game there, and not get away from that. That's what I think is important about those shifts.”
Those extended offensive zone shifts to which Dowd is referring were Washington’s bread and butter during each of their two hot spells this season, and they’ll need to regenerate that element of their game and get back to their identity soon, as the double-digit days of January will be upon them before the end of this journey.
“This month is so critical for our team,” says Carbery. “I feel like even though it’s January and it’s game [45], it’s all hands on deck right now.”
Both Protas and Wilson will make the trip, and both are a possibility to play on the two-game journey, though Carbery says Protas is closer than Wilson to a return at the moment.
Chicago was the first team the Caps faced on their just concluded three-game homestand, and the Blackhawks handed Washington a 3-2 shootout setback last Saturday night in the District. Saturday’s win over the Caps was the Hawks’ second in succession, the first time they had managed to string together consecutive victories since Nov. 15-18. Since departing the District, Chicago has doubled its win streak to four games, its longest spree in nearly three years, since a five-game winning run from Feb. 17-25, 2023.
Since defeating the Caps on Saturday, the Hawks have won in overtime over Vegas and most recently they pummeled the Blues here in the Windy City on Wednesday night, 7-3. They’ll be seeking to sweep the three-game homestand Friday against the Caps.
