New Years Day – On the first afternoon of 2026, the Caps conclude a mini-marathon of four games inside a span of about 115 hours, with travel involved for all four. Playing that many games in that tight of a span under “normal” circumstances would be difficult enough, but the four-game gauntlet was immediately preceded by the NHL’s three-day holiday break, so players had to dial up from couch mode to 90 MPH in a snap.
So far, so good. The Caps have taken two of the first three games of this rugged four-game stretch heading into today’s game in Ottawa against the Senators, which is the first of 16 contests they’ll play in a busy month of January.
Facing the rested Senators on the second of back-to-back matinees is not going to be a picnic, as the Caps should recall from their first meeting with Ottawa this season. In that Oct. 25 game in Washington, the Caps were playing for the second time in as many nights – they were on the road in Columbus the night before – while the Sens played and won in Philly two nights earlier, and they were in DC resting up long before the Caps were back in town.
The result was a 7-1 drubbing for Washington in one of the very few games in the first half of 2025-26 in which the Caps weren’t competitive.
In yesterday’s win over the Rangers, the Caps hopped out to a strong start and never trailed in a 6-3 triumph. They’ll need a strong start again today, but it’s going to take more than that to get two points against an Ottawa team that is seeking to climb its way out of the Atlantic Division basement. Although they’re last in the Atlantic, the Sens are also a mere five points south of the playoff cutline, and with half a season still stretched out in front of them.
Just under two weeks ago, the Caps played a pair of back-to-back afternoon games, albeit against the same opponent, Detroit. They weren’t pleased with the way they played in a 5-2 loss in the opener at home, but they were better the next day in a 3-2 overtime loss in the Motor City. The Caps went to school on that weekend set against the Wings before undertaking this current set of midweek back-to-back matinees.
“We talked about it going back to the start of the Detroit home-and-home, where I thoufht our game in Detroit was excellent, and our game at home to start that wasn’t great,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “We wanted to make sure that we were ready to go yesterday, so we talked about it, and I thought our guys did an excellent job. I thought our skating was there, our pace was there, our execution with the puck and predictability with what we were doing as a group was there.
“I really liked the start to our game, and then we build a lead and get a little bit off track. But the start was without a doubt there.”
Just prior to the holiday break, the Sens had a four-game winning streak that was halted in a 3-2 overtime loss to white hot Buffalo on Dec. 23, in the final game before the holiday break. That was also the last game Linus Ullmark played in the Ottawa crease before taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. The Sens have dropped a pair of games – at Toronto and in the first game of a four-game homestand to Columbus – coming out of the break.
“I think that the biggest key for me is they're a very big, hard, heavy team,” says Carbery of the Senators. “They score a lot at the net front, even with their skill guys, and then they do a real good job of defending that area – conversely – defensively. So, they make it difficult on you to get to the most valuable areas on the ice, or the most valuable area offensively for us.
“And then defensively for us, they get there, and they work to create from there. And I think for today especially, last night I just thought we did a poor job at certain moments in that game of managing the puck or making sure that we didn't fuel [the Rangers’] transition. All of a sudden, we have a huge hiccup, and now [Artemi] Panarin is walking in, or they're going in on a 2-on-1, where we had a rush. And if we do that today, that's going to be problematic.
“Just on the back half of a back-to-back, playing against a real good Ottawa team that I feel like their record isn't indicative of how good of a hockey team this is; they’ve been a little bit unfortunate with where they sit in the standings and what their record is. And then you're also going to get a very – let's call it grumpy – Ottawa team here at home [after] practice a couple days.
“So, we're going to need to be on our toes, and the start will be key, and then also not fueling or giving them anything.”
From the sound of things, the Caps are likely to make a lineup alteration or two for today’s game.
“We will,” says Carbery, asked whether the Caps will have lineup changes. “And we’re working through a couple of things, so it will be game time [decisions].”
In The Nets – One day after Charlie Lindgren turned in a solid performance against the Rangers to nail down his sixth victory of the season, Logan Thompson is back between the pipes today for Washington, a day after learning he would be one of the three goaltenders on Team Canada’s Olympic roster.
Thompson’s fellow Canadian Olympian Tom Wilson had a game for the ages yesterday after learning he was an Olympian early that morning; Wilson had two goals, a Gordie Howe hat trick, and a remarkable shift midway through the second period in which he delivered a massive hit and scored on the same shift in what was a 1-1 game. A shift later, he fought Sam Carrick and drew a minor penalty in the process. When Justin Sourdif scored on the ensuing power play, Wilson had helped the Caps to their first multi-goal lead in almost two weeks.
Today, in a back-to-back situation against a rested opponent, the Caps could use a lift from Thompson, who has had a terrific first half.
Lifetime against the Senators, Thompson is 5-0-1 in six appearances (five starts) with a shutout, a 2.30 GAA and a .931 save pct.
Ullmark started 28 of Ottawa’s first 36 games, and going into the holiday break, only New York’s Igor Shesterkin and Utah’s Karel Vejmelka had logged more minutes in the crease this season, so his absence is noteworthy, even though he wasn’t playing his best in the first half.
With Ullmark out of the picture for a bit, Leevi Merilainen has started each of Ottawa’s first two games since the break, dropping both. Merilainen – Ottawa’s third-round choice (71st overall) in the 202 NHL Draft – is 4-7-0 in 11 appearances (10 starts) on the season, with a 3.51 GAA and an .869 save pct. this season, but he was sharp in a similar amount of playing time (12 appearances, 11 starts) last season, going 8-3-1 with three shutouts, a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save pct.
In his lone career start against the Caps – just under a year ago, here in Ottawa – Merilainen was a hard luck loser in a 1-0 overtime decision. Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored the only goal of the game in overtime, setting the NHL record for most different goaltenders scored against in the process. Merilainen stopped 25 of 26 shots in that game; he has a 0.95 GAA and a .962 save pct. in his brief career against the Caps.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Capitals and Senators might look on Thursday afternoon in Ottawa:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
24-McMichael, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson
72-Beauvillier 26-Dowd, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
15-Milano
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
Injured/Out
80-Dubois (lower body)
OTTAWA
Forwards
7-Tkachuk, 18-Stützle, 20-Zetterlund
57-Perron, 24-Cozens, 19-Batherson
22-Amadio, 12-Pinto, 28-Giroux
23-MacDermid, 71-Grieg, 21-Cousins
Defensemen
85-Sanderson, 2-Zub
72-Chabot, 10-Spence
43-Kleven, 33-Matinpalo
Goalies
1-Merilainen
31-Shepard
Healthy Extras
3-Jensen
83-Halliday
Injured/Out
35-Ullmark (personal leave)
89-Eller (foot)
