This Is Who We Are – The Caps are home for a single game – tonight’s tilt against the St. Louis Blues – their third straight single-game stop at home. Whenever the schedule serves up slim homestand pickings, the Caps are typically in the midst of a stretch of games in which they must travel for each, and that’s the case currently for Washington.
When the Caps’ schedule was released last summer, we highlighted this current stretch of 11 games across 23 days in which Washington travels to play each game, along with another stretch of 11 such games in 22 nights to conclude the 2025-26 campaign in late March and April.
Last season, the Caps handled a couple of similar stretches quite well, but typically they struggle when the schedule serves up such nomadic stretches. Five games into the current 11-game run, they sit at 1-3-1.
And it’s not just the travel that makes this part of the schedule difficult, it’s the quality of the opposition as well. Of the next six opponents during this 11-game stretch, five made the playoffs last season and the only one that did not do so – Pittsburgh – is off to a hot start, and the Caps catch the Penguins tomorrow night on the road, in the second game of a set of back-to-backs.
“It’s not season defining,” said Caps coach Spencer Carbery, after Monday morning’s practice. “But I agree that there’s a level of urgency that our group needs to have – like, where is this year going to go, and the level that we’re going to play with, and our ability to finish and our ability on special teams. Like, who are we, and even a little bit of our identity.
“So, we’re working through that, and we’re trying to see where we’re going with this. And it’s our job as coaches to continue to show where we’re coming up short and then continue to emphasize the areas that we’ve been strong with thus far.”
Monday morning wasn’t the first time Carbery mentioned his team’s identity. He brought it up unprompted following Saturday night’s shootout loss to the Sabres in Buffalo when he was asked how he sees his team, a dozen games into this 2025-26 NHL season.
“I still think we're trying to find ourselves a little bit,” he replied. “I know the record was what it was early on, but I'm not fooled by that. We're still trying to find our identity. Some guys are trying to get into a rhythm with their seasons. And it's no secret, we have a lot of guys that are struggling right now, but they're trying to fight their way through it, and so that's what I take from this game, is as we're trying to get into the season and get guys going and up to speed and feeling good about themselves, and creating confidence and putting some pucks in the back of the net, as we try to get to that spot, you're going to have to find a way to grind out points, and take steps in the right direction. I thought tonight was one.
“Do we have a long way to go? Do guys have a long way to go individually? Absolutely, but again, we'll take the positives from tonight. I thought it was a positive step.”
Following Tuesday’s practice, Carbery elaborated a bit on the question of the Caps’ identity. First came the question of how a team latches onto its identity at this stage of the season.
“I think we have a pretty good idea of it, but I just don't think it's been fine-tuned yet,” Carbery replied. “And for anybody, it takes time through the season to really get your polish.
“I always think about it like this, when I can, just as a coach, and us as coaches can just take our hands off, and we're just making little adjustments here and there, showing pre-scouts; ‘Hey, here's what [the opponent is] going to do tonight. We're going to do this; just a little tweak here.’
“But all the talk, all the lines, all the [defense] pairs know exactly where to be. It doesn't mean you're going to play a perfect game, but there's very rarely systematic mistakes or guys in the wrong spots or not knowing where they need to be. That usually happens as the season moves along – and I won’t put an exact date on it for every team, because it's a little bit different – but we're not there yet. We still need to fine tune that identity and what it looks like night to night, shift to shift, even. It’s just been a little bit inconsistent at times.
“I think part of it, you could attribute it to not scoring at a high rate. This is a question we ask ourselves as coaches, and I don’t like to do this a ton, but I think it’s relevant to this, is reflecting last year to this year. And we don’t even talk about personnel, because that’s irrelevant.
“But, what looks different, and why? And scoring at a high rate covers up a lot of things that that might be going on underneath the hood, and it makes you kind of like gloss over and go, ‘All right, next game, here we go,’ as coaches, we're getting ready because we just scored six last night in Buffalo and won 6-3.
“When you're not scoring, now you start dissecting everything that you're doing. And you can't make certain mistakes, because if it ends up in the back of your net, you lose 3-2 or 2-1 or 1-0. And that's – I think – what's happened early on, is our deficiencies to score has amplified a lot of different areas of our identity in our game that if we were scoring at just the median rate, I think we might be glossing over a little bit.”
The Caps are certainly not clicking as they were offensively at this stage of last season, but their defensive structure and their nightly defensive sturdiness and goaltending excellence typically keeps them in every game and gives them a chance to collect points. They started out the season 6-2-0 in their first eight games, but after dropping four straight (0-3-1) games for the first time since 2023-24 – Carbery’s first season behind the Washington bench – the Capitals are trying to find their offensive legs and their offensive game. Over their last six games, the Caps have netted just 11 goals, and Tom Wilson (three) is the only player to score more than once during that stretch.
“We just need to be a little bit better,” said Wilson after the Caps’ previous home loss, on Friday night to the Islanders. “We need 10 percent better from every guy, myself included, and we’ll be all right.”
Aliaksei Protas concurs with that assessment.
“I agree,” says Protas. “I don’t really like looking at the stats, but I feel like we’re playing good hockey. We’re spending a good amount of time in the [offensive] zone, we just can’t find this last play we need to make to get a Grade A chance or something; we don’t find it.
“And sometimes in sports, it happens, it’s just one little mistake, but it’s frustrating when it keeps happening to everyone. We’ve just got to find a way to eliminate those, and to find those quality chances like we have been doing for a long time. We feel like we are a confident team, and we just need to find it again.”
Offense came in trickle in Carbery’s first season with Washington, and it came in a stream last season. A dozen games into 2025-26, it again resembles a trickle, but as Carbery says, the team is still trying collect and assert its identity, and like most things in this great game, it’s a process.
What should that identity look like when it all comes to fruition?
“We talk about a few things,” says Carbery. “One thing is our attention to detail inside of our game. One thing is our competitiveness on the puck, our work rate, how we physically are able to dominate and lean on teams, not just from a standpoint of being physical, but winning a ton of different situations in all three zones. Those are probably the two most important.
“What is our game? What do the X's and O's look like? I’m not going to go into detail, but we are a team that controls play constantly or [is] trying to. If we can spend 65% of the night in the offensive zone and lean on teams, and lean on teams, and lean on teams, that's what we try to do. When we talk about controlling play, we lean on teams and wear them down and wear them down.
“And it’s not always the most pretty, and it’s maybe not always the most flashy, but when you constantly are tilting the ice and feel like you’re in the offensive zone [and you] forecheck, get the puck back, do the same thing, when we’re all on the same page with that, that’s how I would characterize our identity.”
In Full Flight – With the expected return of Rasmus Sandin to the Washington lineup tonight, the Caps have all eight of their blueliners healthy and available. Last season, all six of Washington’s regular top six defensemen finished the season with 20 or more points for the first time in franchise history. Sandin suffered an upper body injury in the Caps' Oct. 21 game vs. Seattle and he missed Washington's last five games.
As with the rest of the team, offense has come slowly for the Caps defense corps this season, or slower than it did last season when it posted the team’s highest rate of offensive involvement from the back end in over three decades.
Heading into tonight’s NHL action, the Caps have scored 31 goals on the season; only Calgary (30) has scored fewer. But Washington defensemen have had a hand in 21 of those 31 goals to date, scoring seven of them themselves.
With center P-L Dubois expected to be out of the Washington lineup for an extended period of time, the Caps will need everyone pitching in to light the lamp. And the Caps defense continues to do so.
“Inevitably, with it being such a long season,” says Caps center Nic Dowd, “you’re going to have to rely on different parts of your team game to win games. Whether or not that’s the power play, the penalty kill, goaltending, 5-on-5 scoring, your 5-on-5 defensive play, when your team is really running and playing well, all of those things are going well. And that’s why you win hockey games.
“But there are going to be times throughout your season where your power play and your penalty kill stink, or they’re struggling and working on stuff. Maybe another time, you’re 5-on-5 goal scoring is going to be tough, but then your power play steps in. And there are going to be times when defensively you’re struggling, but you’re scoring a lot of 5-on-5 goals.
“I think having a high-end defensive corps like we do – they’re offensive but probably one of the best eight in the NHL as an [octet] – that makes a huge difference because there are going to be moments in every game where you are having to play defense against top players, and shift after shift there are momentum changes. So having really steady guys back there I think probably makes more of a difference than having incredibly talented high-end offensive guys, if you don’t have a good defensive corps.
“Because yeah, you can win games, but sometimes those guys aren’t going to perform, and it’s hard to score goals in the NHL as an individual. So I think having the defensive corps that we have – and the goaltending – is really important, because that’s arguably one of your best players on the ice at all times.”
Washington’s back end will be critical while Dubois is out of the lineup, because the group excels at defending and has been stingy in giving up chances and goals, but also because all of the Caps blueliners are capable of jumping into the play, adding a second layer or wave to the attack, and setting up the team’s forwards for scoring opportunities.
“Just good personnel, just good hockey players, I guess,” shrugs Chychrun when asked why the Caps blueliners are so adept at adding to the attack. “We’ve got guys that can play in all situations. I think we rely on all six of our [defensemen] that are playing each night heavily, and a huge part of the game these days is obviously generating from the back end and having a second wave of attack, and finding ways of generating offense from the back end.
“It’s something I think every team looks for, and I just think we have great personnel to be able to go out and accomplish that and have success.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson gets the net for Washington tonight in the front end of a set of back-to-back games. Among goalies with at least four appearances to this point of the season, his 1.51 GAA and his .935 save pct. lead all NHL netminders.
Thompson has allowed two or fewer goals against in each of his first eight starts this season, but he owns a 5-3-0 mark because he ranks 28th in goal scoring support from his teammates this season, among the 52 NHL netminders with at least four appearances. Thompson’s netminding partner Charlie Lindgren is last in the League in goal support with a paltry 1.79 goals per game.
Lifetime against St. Louis, Thompson is 5-0-1 in six appearances – all starts – with a 2.46 GAA and a .906 save pct.
For the Blues, we are expecting to see veteran Jordan Binnington between the pipes. Thirteen games into the season, St. Louis has surrendered the most goals at 5-on-5 (35) of any team in the NHL.
While Thompson (.959) boasts the NHL’s top save pct. at even strength (among goaltenders with at least four appearances), Binnington (.897) sits in 37th place on that list, and Blues backup goalie Joel Hofer (.827) is last among the 52 netminders with four appearances.
Overall, Binnington is 3-4-2 on the season with a 3.08 GAA and an .868 save pct. Lifetime against the Capitals, he is 1-2-1 in four appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 3.75 GAA and an .856 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Capitals and the Blues might look on Wednesday night in Washington:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin 17-Strome, 72-Beauvillier
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 34-Sourdif
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Roy
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
81-Smallman
Injured/Out
53-Frank (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
ST. LOUIS
Forwards
89-Buchnevich, 18-Thomas, 21-Snuggerud
10-Schenn, 22-Suter, 25-Kyrou
81-Holloway, 54-Dvorsky, 70-Sundqvist
13-Toropchenko, 77-Bjugstad, 26-Walker
Defensemen
6-Broberg, 55-Parayko
75-Tucker, 72-Faulk
17-Fowler, 23-Mailloux
Goalies
50-Binnington
30-Hofer
Healthy Extras
9-Texier
51-Kessel
71-Joseph
Injured/Out
63-Neighbours (lower body)
