Nov. 7 vs. Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena
Time: 12:30 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio Network
Florida Panthers (9-5-2)
Washington Capitals (8-6-0)
The Florida Panthers are making both of their visits to D.C. this month; the Cats and the Caps will hook up in a pair of matinees in November, starting with Saturday afternoon’s finale of Washington’s three-game homestand. Florida will also supply the opposition for the Capitals’ annual Black Friday matinee on Nov. 27, a 3 p.m. start.
(Speaking of which, Saturday’s 12:30 tilt with the Panthers is the Caps’ seventh different local start time in 14 games. Their Black Friday game with Florida will be the eighth different one.)
For the first time since January, the Caps enter Saturday’s game on the heels of consecutive regulation losses at home. Washington is 19-8-3 in calendar 2026, tied for the fifth-best home ice record (via points percentage) in the NHL.
A slow start and a rugged finish led to a 5-1 loss to Minnesota in Sunday’s homestand opener; the Caps outscored the Wild 1-0 in a terrific 52-minute display of hockey from both teams in between the start and the finish.
Tuesday’s game with Dallas got out of hand early in the second period when Jason Robertson recorded a natural hat trick in a span of less than six minutes, putting the Caps in a 4-0 hole and sending Logan Thompson to the bench – for reasons other than injury – for just the second time in 110 starts in his three seasons with Washington. There was no quit in the Caps, who rallied before falling 6-5.
One positive development from the last two games has been the forward trio of Justin Sourdif between Alex Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvillier. That troika played reasonably well across just 46:04 of 5-on-5 time together – with a 63.18 xGF% – last season, and it has yet to reach the 12-minute mark together this season.
“We’ve been winning some pucks down low and sustaining some [offensive] zone time,” says Beauvillier. “I think that’s been better for us over the last two or three games, and we’ve been playing a little bit better because of that, just winning pucks, staying on the offense more and transitioning quickly instead of being hemmed in our zone.”
Beauvillier, though, has played a lot with Ovechkin since arriving here in a March 7, 2025 trade with Pittsburgh. The Beau-and-O duo has logged 580 minutes together at 5-on-5, most of them with Dylan Strome manning the middle. When those two are on the ice together – regardless of who is in the middle – the Beau-and-O combo has outscored the opposition 30-20, well outpacing its xGF% of 53.14.
“Since we reunited them, it’s been a good combination for us,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “Beau is just one of those versatile players that is very good at adapting to different centermen and different wingers. He’s just a really, really well-rounded, great all-around player that has good skill, can keep pucks alive, can skate can forecheck, can defend well.
“So when he gets into and learns linemates like O, he can read off them. He can get O the puck in certain situations and can forecheck. He’s just a very, very well-rounded, intelligent player that reads off his linemates really well.”
In his first season with Washington in 2025-26, Sourdif played a couple hundred minutes of 5-on-5 time with Beauvillier, so he has a good handle on what to expect from the savvy and utile vet who has logged 727 NHL games across 11 seasons, and is still more than half a year away from turning 30.
“Beau is really, really good at shoulder checking, and he has a tremendous motor,” says Sourdif. “He has the ability to break free from guys in one-on-one situations, spin off of them, and I think he's really good at finding those lanes to O. And O obviously being the veteran that he is, and being the goal scorer that he is, he knows how to get open.
“And so O will time it where he'll be covered by somebody, and he waits, and he sees Beau spring away from somebody. O gets into that open lane, and Beau knows where he's going, and we send to the net. It's easy, simple, predictable hockey. And I think Beau also knows when to move it and when to maybe put a puck on net where he can't get it to O, and he doesn't try and force anything.”
Beau knows.
“Obviously, he’s a guy that wants the puck at all times,” says Beauvillier, of playing with Ovechkin. “So, finding the right time to give it to him – and especially for him to shoot it – is one of the most important things, I think. I’m a guy that likes to forecheck and try to get pucks back, and he obviously likes to be in a position to shoot. I think that works well for both of us.”
Saturday’s game with the Panthers is the last chance to grab some points before the team heads out on its first multi-game road trip in more than a month on Monday. The Caps will have played 11 of their first 15 games – more than a quarter of their full-season total of home games – just 40 days into the season. No NHL team has played more home games than Washington, and the Caps are the only team that has played just four road games to this juncture of the season. With 14 total games played, the Caps and the Los Angeles Kings are tied for the fewest heading in Saturday’s slate of NHL activity.
Florida will be playing its 11th road game of the season on Saturday; only Minnesota (12) has played more games away from home. The Panthers played 10 of their first 13 games on the road (5-3-2) before going 2-1-0 on a just completed three-game homestand.
Florida has scored five or more goals in five of its last seven victories. Most recently, the Cats prevailed over Chicago 5-3 on Wednesday in the rubber match of the homestand. Rookie winger Sandis Vilmanis had a career high four points (two goals, two assists) in that victory.
