The Real Deal – It’s been too long, the summer, and so is the gap between the last Caps game on April 14 of this year and tonight’s season opener – on the fourth night of the season – in Carolina against the Hurricanes. But tonight the wait ends when the puck drops in Raleigh on a new season, and a much anticipated one at that.
The Caps have added Boone Jenner, Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch to their forward group, and they’ve added Vincent Desharnais to their back end. They also have defensemen Cole Hutson and Timothy Liljegren and center Ilya Protas in their lineup tonight; all three finished last season with Washington, but all three will be experiencing their first NHL opening night in a Caps sweater.
One of Washington’s early season challenges will be integrating all of those new faces into the mix as seamlessly as possible, given the truncated training camp and the new veteran max of just two preseason games.
“There’s been a few years here where I feel like we’re just sitting and waiting for the season to start, and the rest of the League is already playing,” says Caps winger Tom Wilson. “It’s never easy, but we’re aware of that, and there are lots of ups and downs throughout the whole season. We’ve got lots of new guys in here to band together with.
“So, control what you can control. This year will I’m sure be crazier moments than this, but we’ve got to be ready for game one against a really good hockey team on the road. We’ll start with our first shift and go from there.”
It’s never easy playing the Hurricanes, even more so in their building and when they’ve already played a game this season. But if there is a silver lining, in playing the defending Cup champs in their building to start the season, it may be that the Canes are one of – if not the most – predictable teams in the League from night to night. None of the 20 Caps suiting up for this game has any mystery between their ears over what Carolina will bring come 7 p.m. tonight.
“From a preparation and understanding what a team is trying to do and what makes them successful,” begins Caps coach Spencer Carbery, “that sets up well, but it doesn't make the task any easier, as they demonstrated last year. Everybody in the league, everybody in the media, everybody knows how they play and what they do well. And they stick to it, and they don't crack, and that's why they're Stanley Cup champions.
“So yeah, we know what we're up against, and now it's about us executing through that. And the other thing too, is you've got to counter punch against these guys. I think maybe we don't talk about that enough. We talk about it with our players, but maybe in the media don't talk about it enough. You’ve got to handle their pressure, but you also have to be able to counter punch, and that's a tricky thing because you need to make sure that you're handling pressure, handling pressure, handling pressure, and when there's an opportunity to attack, you’ve got to put them on their heels as well. So that's something to keep in mind.”
The Canes raised their Cup banner on Tuesday night, then skated through nearly 65 minutes of scoreless hockey against the Florida Panthers before Cats blueliner Gustav Forsling ended the night with a point blast, just four seconds before what would have been the end of overtime.
The Caps will be facing the first defending Cup champs to be shutout in their season opener, banner-raising night in a dozen years, since Los Angeles suffered that fate in 2014.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge for our group, but I don’t think you’d want it any other way, to play the Stanley Cup champs,” says Caps goalie Logan Thompson. “They’re going to come out hard; I know they probably weren’t happy with their first game.
“But yeah, they’ve got one game under their belt and they’re probably going to come in a little more comfortable. For us, it’s going to be our first game. So, we’ve got to match their energy.”
Brother On The Line – Back in 1992-93, the Capitals opened the first-ever 84-game season in the NHL with a pair of brothers in their opening night lineup, Kevin and Kelly Miller. Tonight, when the Caps start another 84-game slate, they will have brothers Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Protas in the lineup together, and skating on the same line, with Jordan Kyrou.
“It’s pretty special,” says Aliaksei Protas of sharing a season opener with his younger brother for the first of hopefully many times. “Back in the day, we never thought some of us would be here, but we’re so proud of the work we have done so far.
“I’m so happy for Ilya, to make it obviously such a special time right now. We enjoy every day, and it’s a pleasure to be here every day with those guys, and with my brother. So yeah, we are pretty proud of the work we have done, but we have so much work ahead of us. And we’re so excited to share the opening game.”
In The Nets – Thompson will be in the crease for the Caps’ season opener in Carolina this evening. Coming off consecutive 30-win seasons in his first two seasons with Washington, Thompson will be trying to join Braden Holtby and Olie Kolzig to string together as many as three straight 30-win seasons for the Capitals. Holtby had a string of five straight seasons with 30 or more victories, Kolzig had four.
Lifetime against Carolina, Thompson is 1-2-1 in four appearances – all starts – with a 3.79 GAA and an .892 save pct. Lifetime in the month of October, Thompson is 17-5-0 in 22 appearances – all starts – with a couple of shutouts, a 2.00 GAA and a .926 save pct.
Brandon Bussi gets the net for the Canes tonight. As a 27-year-old first-year NHL goaltender, Bussi posted a stellar 31-6-2 season in 2025-26. He added a pair of shutouts, a 2.47 GAA and an .894 save pct.
In his first start of the new season – Tuesday against Florida – Bussi was a hard luck loser late in overtime when he surrendered the Forsling goal, the lone blemish on his night. He stopped 19 of 20 in Carolina’s season opener.
Lifetime against Washington, Bussi is 1-0-0 in a single start and appearance, with a 1.85 GAA and a .920 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how we expect the Caps and Canes to line up for Friday’s contest in Carolina:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
89-Tuch, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 9-Leonard
21-A. Protas, 62-I. Protas, 25-Kyrou
22-Jenner, 34-Sourdif, 72-Beauvillier
Defense
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
44-Hutson, 73-Desharnais
42-Fehervary, 27-Liljegren
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Injured/Out
38-Sandin
Healthy Extras
52-McIlrath
53-Frank
63-Miroshnichenko
CAROLINA
Forwards
37-Svechnikov, 20-Aho, 50-Robinson
71-Hall, 22-Stankoven, 53-Blake
27-Ehlers, 11-Staal, 48-Martinook
44-Deslauriers, 77-Jankowski, 28-Carrier
Defense
74-Slavin, 5-Chatfield
19-Miller, 26-Walker
4-Gostisbehere, 62-Legault
Goaltenders
32-Bussi
52-Kochetkov
Injured/out
24-Jarvis
Healthy Extras
6-Reilly
55-Primeau
82-Kotkaniemi
