On Thursday night at Giant Center, the AHL Hershey Bears will host the Hartford Wolf Pack in Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Final series. After vanquishing the Charlotte Checkers in four games in a best-of-five set in the division semis, the Bears now seek to push their way to the Eastern Conference final as they prepare for another best-of-five set, this one against the New York Rangers' AHL affiliate.

Going into last season, the Capitals had just one defenseman - veteran top pair fixture John Carlson - who was under contract for the upcoming 2023-24 season. But after signing righties Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk to multi-year extensions late in this past season and obtaining Rasmus Sandin in a trade with Toronto ahead of the deadline, the Caps removed most of the uncertainty from their blueline picture.

Hershey is the marquee franchise of the American Hockey League. Of all the professional hockey franchises in North America, only the fabled Original Six NHL franchises have been operating from their current cities and in the same circuit continuously for longer period of time than the Bears. The Hershey franchise has been in operation continuously in the same league since 1938-39, when the loop was known as the International-American Hockey League. It was shortened to its current (AHL) name in 1940.

It's been nine years since the Capitals weren't in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it's been almost three years since they've undertaken a search for a new head coach. But in the days immediately following the conclusion of a difficult season that fell short of expectations and standards, the Caps are once again in the market for a head coach, and they're seeking a few new faces on their coaching staff as well.

A day after the team lost its final game of the 2022-23 regular season to New Jersey at Capital One Arena, the Capitals announced that the team and head coach Peter Laviolette have mutually parted ways. Laviolette just concluded his third season behind the Washington bench, a period that was - until the second half of this season - marked with regular season success despite an unrelenting set of adverse circumstances from the time he accepted the position in September of 2020.

On Thursday night at Capital One Arena, the Caps closed the door and turned out the lights on the 2022-23 regular season against the New Jersey Devils. Broadly speaking, the game went as the season did. There were some early wobbles, then the Caps got themselves right and put themselves in position to have success by the midpoint.

Last Call - Tonight at Capital One Arena, the Caps close the book on a star-crossed, injury-riddled campaign that they were able to keep together with duct tape, some spackle and some bondo through the first half of the season, but which came apart at every nail thereafter. The Caps host the New Jersey Devils in tonight's 2022-23 finale, a game that means nothing for Washington, but one which carries meaning and opportunity for the visiting Devils.

April 13 vs. New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena

Time: 7:00 p.m.

TV: NBCSW

Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 The Fan

New Jersey Devils (51-22-8)

Washington Capitals (35-37-9)

In what has been an impressive and record-setting season, the Boston Bruins were determined to break another long-standing NHL standard on Tuesday night against the visiting Capitals. With two games remaining, the Bruins needed a pair of points to become the first team in NHL history to record as many as 133 points in a season, and they checked off that box with a 5-2 win over Washington.

Everybody's Hurting - After three straight games of playing a skater short, the Caps are hopeful of having a full complement of 18 skaters tonight when they take the ice for their 2022-23 road finale against the Bruins in Boston. For the third straight game, Washington will inject a recall from AHL Hershey into its lineup, but this time each of the 17 skaters who played the previous game appear to be healthy enough to suit up for this one.