Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes – Coming off an uplifting 7-4 win on Monday over the Anaheim Ducks, the Caps again seek to spark even a modest winning spree, something they’ve been unable to achieve in the last month. Tonight, in the final game of a three-game homestand, the Caps will try to cobble consecutive wins together against a Western Conference opponent that has vexed them for the last three decades, the Dallas Stars.
Since the Stars moved south from Minnesota to Dallas in 1993-94, they’ve been a problem for the Capitals. Washington has won only 12 of 47 games against the Stars since the move; the Caps are 6-11-1-4 at home and 6-16-0-3. Dallas has blanked the Caps in five of those losses, four in Texas and one in the District.
Washington has been held to two or fewer goals scored in 27 of the 47 games. When they won the Stanley Cup in 2017-18, the Caps swept the two-game season series with the Stars for only the second time ever since the former Minnesota team moved south.
Since 2017-18, the Caps are 2-1-3 against the Stars at home and 1-4-2 against them in the Lone Star State.
The Caps have played a pair of 1-0 games this season, both of them on the road in October, and they split the two decisions. Behind a 35-save effort from Charlie Lindgren and Anthony Beauvillier’s second-period goal at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 12, they downed the Rangers. And just over two weeks later in Dallas, the Caps fell to the Stars and Jake Oettinger (24 saves) by the same score. Tyler Seguin’s power-play goal in the opening minute of the second period was the only goal yielded by Logan Thompson (18 saves).
The Stars played Tuesday night in Carolina, where they found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 beating at the hands of the Hurricanes. Despite an uncharacteristic six-game slide (0-3-3), Dallas still holds the second-best record in the NHL, behind only the Colorado Avalanche.
“An angry Dallas Star,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery, when asked what he expects from the Stars, coming off a loss. “I hate that.
“A real good hockey team. Whatever you want to put them at from a record standpoint, sitting I believe – point percentage wise – two or three in the League, I’m pretty sure right behind Colorado.
“A really well-balanced team. I feel like they’ve got a solid identity to how they want to play and what they do, and the veterans inside their group that have been there for a bunch of years. [They have] a big, strong [defense] that protects the interior of the ice really, really well; they’re an excellent defensive team. And then I think they’ve got what a lot of great teams in this League have, that balance of their top six, where they’ve got some potent offensive threats there, and then they’ve got a real good, solid third and fourth line that can do the necessary things at a 200-foot level that make it difficult for you to score on them, and then they can control possession time.
“And then they’ve got – obviously – Jake Oettinger, who’s an excellent goaltender.”
Nothing in this League is easy, but the Caps know they need to start stacking up wins to improve upon their precarious perch in the Eastern Conference standings.
“Definitely,” says Connor McMichael, who had a career best four assists in Monday’s win. “If you look at the standings and how tight it is, I think before last game, we were five points from first and five points from last. So, it's pretty crazy, the parity in this league this year, and it seems a little bit more than usual, that games are more important at this time of the year, a little bit earlier in the year as well, that these points matter a lot.
“It kind of feels like a normal year where it's March and every game is so important, but for this year, it feels like it's already started.”
Familiar Places – Wednesday morning, the Caps announced the recall of right wing Brett Leason from AHL Hershey. Leason was Washington’s second-round choice (56th overall) in the 2019 draft, chose between Connor McMichael in the first round and Aliaksei Protas in the third round of that Draft, which took place in Vancouver.
Leason debuted with the Caps on Oct. 29, 2021 against Arizona, and he scored his first NHL goal in his second game in the League Nov. 1, 2021 at Tampa Bay, the night of Protas’ NHL debut. Leason logged 36 games with the Caps as a rookie that season, totaling three goals and six points, but Washington lost him on waivers to Anaheim on Oct. 10, 2022, less than a year after his debut.
When Leason was in Hershey prior to his NHL debut, Carbery, assistant coaches Scotty Allen and Patrick Wellar and video coach Emily Engel-Natzke were all on the Bears’ staff. They’re all in DC now.
“It’s pretty cool,” says Leason, back in the Caps locker room this morning for the first time in a few years. “Obviously I started my [pro] career with these coaches that I have here, and then to come full circle and be back here, it shows how much work they’ve put in, too, to get to this level, and myself also. But it’s pretty special to be a first year pro with these guys and four or five years later, to still be with them.”
With the Ducks, Leason skated in 184 games over the last three seasons, putting up a career high 11 goals and 22 points in 68 games in 2023-24. He re-signed with Washington as an unrestricted free agent on Oct. 27 of last year, and had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 20 games with the Bears at the time of his recall.
“Obviously, I’ve come a long way since my first stint in the minors with Hershey and even here [in Washington],” says Leason. “I think I got more physical, better foot speed, a better shot, better everything. And to be able to play at that NHL level, I think I’m still there.”
The 26-year-old native of Calgary is expected to skate the right side of a line with Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre tonight, when he pulls on a Caps’ sweater for the first time since May 5, 2022, in a playoff game against Florida. Leason sported sweater No. 49 in those days; he will don No. 20 tonight.
“Full circle moment,” says Carbery. “I had him in his rookie year in Hershey, and for two years there, so I know Lease really, really well. He came into the organization as a second- round pick, I worked with him a lot and have a great relationship with him, so him coming back to the organization was a pleasant surprise, because it wasn't in the offseason; it was sort of at the beginning of the year when some things happened in Hershey.
“So, him coming back [to Washington], he's played real well down there. Coming here and the reason behind the recall of Lease, I think just where our forward group is right now and how the lines are taking shape, he's a bigger guy, someone that can help us a little bit with stability in a bottom six role, potentially penalty kill, forecheck, strong on the walls. That's sort of what we're looking at to give him an opportunity. He's played real well, so we’re excited to get him back in the fold.”
The return of Leason reunites him with his fellow 2019 Draft class members, McMichael and Protas.
“Me and Pro were joking about that this morning,” says McMichael. “We’re bringing back the 2019ers. But it’s good to see Lease. I haven’t seen him in a few years – other than playing against him – and it was nice catching up. And we’re definitely happy to have him back.”
In The Nets – Following Charlie Lindgren’s typically gritty 41-save performance in Monday’s win over Anaheim, Thompson returns to the crease tonight to take on the Stars. In his last six starts, Thompson is 1-4-1, but he is coming off a strong performance against Chicago on Saturday – a 3-2 shootout loss – in which he made 31 saves.
Lifetime against the Stars, Thompson is 1-2-1 with a 1.77 GAA and a .933 save pct. in four appearances, all starts.
Oettinger started last night in Raleigh, but he was pulled after yielding five goals against on just 15 shots in 26:59 in the crease, and the original plan was likely for Casey DeSmith to start against Washington. DeSmith finished up last night, stopping 16 of 17 shots in 32:56 of work.
DeSmith might still get the start tonight, but we won’t be surprised in the least if Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan goes right back to Oettinger, given his track record against the Capitals.
Lifetime against Washington, Oettinger is 6-0-0 in seven appearances – six starts – with two shutouts, a 1.25 GAA and a .958 save pct.
Ex-Pens goalie DeSmith is 4-3-1 in eight career appearances – all starts – against the Caps, with a 2.47 GAA and a .911 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Stars might look on Wednesday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
72-Beauvillier, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
24-McMichael, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 53-Frank
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 20-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 52-McIlrath
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
57-van Riemsdyk
Injured/Out
21-Protas (lower body)
43-Wilson (lower body)
80-Dubois (abdomen)
DALLAS
Forwards
95-Duchene, 53-Johnston, 96-Rantanen
21-Robertson, 24-Hintz, 22-Bourque
49-Hryckowian, 18-Steel, 73-Erne
10-Back, 12-Faksa, 15-Blackwell
Defensemen
23-Lindell, 4-Heiskanen
55-Harley, 28-Petrovic
46-Lyubushkin, 5-Lundqvist
Goalies
29-Oettinger
1-DeSmith
Healthy Extras
20-Capobianco
Injured/Out
6-Bichsel (lower body)
91-Seguin (knee)
