Emotional Rescue – It’s been a few days since the Caps last played; they’ve had three days between games for the first time since early December, holiday and Olympic breaks notwithstanding. Those three days have been eventful ones for the Capitals, and not in a happy way.
Thursday, the Caps learned that center Nic Dowd – in the middle of his eighth season with Washington – had been dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights. A day later, the Caps woke to the news of John Carlson – in the middle of his 17th season as a Capital – being shipped to the Anaheim Ducks.
Losing two key players and members of the Washington leadership group in as many days sent some shockwaves through the Caps’ locker room over the last couple of days, and now the group reconvenes for its most important game to date, today’s matinee affair with the Bruins in Boston.
Washington trails the Bruins by only four points in the standings, and it could cut that deficit in half with a regulation victory here today.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “The last two days have been extremely rough on the group. And to say that I saw positivity and energy would be a lie. That’s yesterday and the day before.
“Now, I also have a lot of confidence in the leadership group that's still here and the rest of our group of understanding we have a job to do, and we are still in this fight. And so yeah, we lost two great people, two great players, two big parts of our team, but we also have a lot of really good players still here on this roster that can absolutely win hockey games in the National Hockey League.
“And so that's the focus. It’s okay, we understand what went on. It's disappointing, it's sad, it's all those things. And now today, we got an opportunity to play against a great Bruin team on the road, and an opportunity to get two points and get ourselves back or a little bit closer to playoff position.”
Both Carlson and Dowd were vocal leaders in the room and on the bench, and both were parts of Washington’s leadership group, leaving a couple of vacancies in those important off-ice roles. We wondered about the process of filling those vacancies.
“I don't think you do that overnight,” says Carbery. “I don't think it's like now [someone] becomes Nic Dowd and [someone] becomes John Carlson. Because for everything that they did on the ice for us and the roles that they played, they were big, big personalities – as you know – in our locker room, from the lunchroom to the bus to in the locker room, talking in between periods, those two guys were big pieces of our locker room.
“So, is someone going to assume that role today? No, but over time, as guys grow into leadership roles and as they feel a little bit more comfortable and have to understand that they have to fill that void, the Matt Roys of the world, Jakob Chychruns of the world on the back end of filling those voids, and Dylan Strome. So, all those guys now you look for take a little bit of piece of that leadership and those voices in the locker room.”
As the Caps try to move past the loss of two valued teammates on and off the ice, today’s early start may be a blessing.
“I think it actually helps,” says Carbery of playing on the road. “Afternoon, too. You just get right back into it, and there's no morning skate. There's no sitting around thinking about things. It’s wake up, breakfast. Get to the rink and let's play; let's drop the puck. And like I said, I've got confidence that our group is not going to go quietly into the night and just lay down because we lost two big pieces of our team. Our guys are going to continue to push and compete, hold each other to a high standard, and that's what we expect. And I don't expect to see anything different today.”
Back In Beantown – Washington makes just one visit to Boston this season, and it comes just over 11 months since its previous regular season trip to Beantown, which was a 4-3 Caps victory here on April 1, 2025.
That date is also the date of Ryan Leonard’s NHL debut; the Caps winger signed his three-year entry level contract a night earlier, just after the team arrived in town for the game. Leonard had just concluded his sophomore season at Boston College, and the Massachusetts native was able to make his NHL debut in his home state and near where he played collegiate hockey.
Leonard played the final nine regular season games with Washington last season, and he also got into eight Stanley Cup playoff games, all as a 20-year-old. This season, his first full campaign in the NHL, Leonard has totaled 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 56 games.
Nearly a year after embarking upon his NHL career, and just ahead of the Caps’ first return to Boston since then, Leonard took some time to reflect on how the last year has unfolded for him.
“Just how quick it goes past,” says Leonard of his biggest takeaway from year one in the NHL. “It’s weird. The guys told me at the start of the season just how fast the season goes, and you blink and it's summer again, and then you blink again and it's training camp. So, it's different. It was so much different at the start with just playing however many games it is a week and playing double the amount of games that I played last year in the season.
“But now it just feels like – and it'll feel a little bit weird this week, with having those [three] days off, which is odd and not normal at all -- you need to be playing every two days. So, it's been a lot, but it's also been a lot of fun.”
It’s been a lot of fun for those of us who watch the games to see Leonard on a night in, night out basis and to marvel at some of the plays and moves he makes, and to try to imagine what his game might be like in a season or two, and where his ceiling might be.
“Good,” is how Leonard characterizes how his game has progressed since his first NHL training camp last September. “There are definitely a lot of details that I need to sharpen up, and there are still a shole lot of details to grow in my game to be the player I want to become.
“Right now, it’s been a little bit tough with producing, and that happens in professional hockey; it’s not always going to be perfect for you. And there were some points this year where the production was there, but my game wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. Sometimes, you just get rewarded for whatever reason, but continuing to work and continuing to do all the good things, and be trustworthy out there, and be dependable for the coaches to keep putting me out there.
Leonard is tied with the Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer for the NHL lead among rookies with 28 penalties drawn this season, and Lenoard has played seven fewer games than the Isles rookie blueliner.
“I like to play with a chip on my shoulder; I always have and I always will,” says Leonard. “And a lot of the guys always tell me to keep that chip on your shoulder, because that's kind of when you're at your best. You look at any player that has a physical presence out there, and when they're playing with that edge, that's when they're playing their best. So just continue to do that. And when the offense is there, do it. But there's also been times where maybe I force it, where I don't really need to, and that's also been part of the learning curve this year, and it'll only get better.”
There’s little doubt of that.
New Blood – Late Friday afternoon, ahead of the 3 pm NHL trade deadline, the Caps snuck in a couple of acquisitions under the wire. They obtained defenseman Timothy Liljegren from San Jose in exchange for a fourth-round pick (originally belonging to Vegas) in the 2026 NHL Draft and acquired center David Kampf from Vancouver in exchange for a sixth-rounder in 2026.
Carbery has a history with both players from his days as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Liljegren was a first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft and Kampf signed with Toronto as a free agent in the summer of 2021.
“Yeah, a little bit of a Maple Leaf reunion,” says Carbery. “I got a few texts from the old staff there, getting the band back together.
“I know them both really, really well. David Kampf, very similar to a Nic Dowd; he plays that same type of role. He is a defensive specialist, takes a lot of [defensive] zone draws, can penalty kill. So, that's his MO and he knows his identity and his role to a tee. Timothy Liljegren, right shot defenseman. So, he's sort of your prototypical puck mover, good defender. He can give you a little bit of the offensive blue line, but also takes pride in his defensive game. So I would say he's your 200-foot, puck moving defenseman that will come in and give us some depth on the right side.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson will be in goal for Washington this afternoon, seeking his 22nd win of the season. He has won three of his last four starts, yielding an aggregate total of eight goals against in the process.
Lifetime against the Bruins, Thompson is 3-2-0 in five appearances – all starts – with a 1.99 GAA and a .934 save pct.
For the Bruins, we are expecting to see Jeremy Swayman between the pipes today. Swayman is aiming for his 24th victory of the season. He is 7-2-1 in his last 10 starts.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Swayman is 4-6-0 in 11 appearances – 10 starts – with a 1.89 GAA and a .930 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Bruins might look on Saturday afternoon Boston:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 72-Beauvillier
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
47-Chisholm, 38-Sandin
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
27-Liljegren
52-McIlrath
63-Miroshnichenko
64-Kampf
Injured/Out
None
BOSTON
Forwards
92-Khusnutdinov, 28-E. Lindholm, 88-Pastrnak
11-Mittelstadt, 18-Zacha, 71-Arvidsson
81-Eyssimont, 93-Minten, 39-Geekie
84-Jeannot, 52-Kuraly, 47-Kastelic
Defensemen
91-Zadorov, 73-McAvoy
27-H. Lindholm, 6-Lohrei
43-Harris, 26-Peeke
Goalies
1-Swayman
70-Korpisalo
Healthy Extras
20-Jokiharju
21-Steeves
45-Aspirot
Injured/Out
None
