Caps Start Homestand vs. Stars on Saturday

Nov. 3 vs. Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena
Time:7:00 p.m.
TV:NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, FAN 106.7
Dallas Stars 7-5-0
Washington Capitals 5-4-2

Still seeking a level of basic consistency 11 games into the regular season, the Capitals are hopeful that a five-game homestand in which they play every other day will be a cure for what ails them. The Caps host the Dallas Stars on Saturday night in the District in the first of those five contests at home in early November. For Washington, it's the second longest homestand of the season. The Caps will set up camp for six straight games on F St. in February.

"Just take advantage of it," says Caps winger Chandler Stephenson of the impending homestand. "Try to get back to our game and our team identity and what we're good at, and what makes us good. I think over the first 11 games, it's something that has gotten away from us at times in games. It's a matter of finding that consistency."
The Caps have won three of their last eight games (3-4-1), but have just one regulation win in that span. They started the season 2-2-1 while facing five straight playoff teams from last season, and they're now six games into a stretch of eight straight games against non-playoff teams from 2017-18, going 3-2-1 in those half dozen contests.
On most nights, the Caps play well for long stretches but they've been struggling to do so over the full 60 minutes on most nights. They owned leads in the latter half of two of their four regulation losses, but they've also dug their way out of multi-goal deficits to earn points in each of their overtime/shootout losses.
Washington has yielded 42 goals in its 11 games to date, and its average of 3.82 goals against per game ranks 28th in the NHL. Of the bottom six teams in the league in terms of goals against, the Caps own the best record, largely because they also average 3.82 goals per game, second in the league.
Washington comes into Saturday's game stinging from its most recent setback, a 6-4 loss to the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday night. Down 3-1 early in the second period of that game, the Caps rallied for three unanswered goals in a span of about six minutes in the second period, and they took a 4-3 lead into the third.
At the start of the third, the Caps expertly killed off a Montreal power play, and then they nursed their one-goal lead into the latter stages of the third. But Washington unraveled late; shortly after the Caps' only power play chance of the night failed to produce as much as a shot on net, the lead and then the game and any chance at coming home with a point slipped away as well.
Montreal scored three times in the final 184 seconds of the game, stunning the Caps and leaving them on the wrong side of a 6-4 score, and still without consecutive wins to this point of the season.

A heavy dose of home cooking helped the Caps pull themselves out of a couple of rugged patches last season, and they are 115-40-14 on home ice in the regular season since the outset of the 2014-15 season.
Dallas is heading into the back half of a six-game road trip, their longest journey of the season. The Stars started out the trip with a loss to the Red Wings in Detroit, and they've followed up with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens in Montreal and a 2-1 triumph over the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
Under first-year head coach Jim Montgomery, the Stars are the sixth stingiest team in the league in the early going. They've allowed 2.58 goals per game, and they rank seventh in the league with a penalty kill success rate of 86.5%.
Offensively, they're in the middle of the pack but they've been playing without top line winger Alexander Radulov, center Martin Hanzal and defenseman Stephen Johns. Radulov played one game on the team's current trip but has since returned to Dallas because of a lower body injury. Neither Hanzal (back) nor Johns (post-traumatic headaches) has suited up yet this season.
Rookie Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen is showing well in the early going, and is beginning to make a case for himself as a Calder Trophy candidate. The Stars' first-round (third overall) pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, Heiskanen is the highest drafted Star since Mike Modano went first overall in 1988, when the team was still based in Minnesota and known as the North Stars. Heiskanen is a terrific skater with a lot offensive upside, and he has top pairing/workhorse potential. Although he is not yet among rookie leaders in scoring by defensemen, the 19-year-old Heiskanen is averaging 21:26 per night, ranking second in freshman blueliners in that category.