Jan. 7 vs. Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Dallas Stars (25-10-8)
Washington Capitals (22-15-6)
The Caps conclude their first homestand of 2026 on Wednesday night when they host the Dallas Stars’ lone visit of the season. The Stars follow Chicago and Anaheim, respectively, into the District on the three-game homestand, and Washington will be aiming to stretch its nascent point streak to a modest three games for the first time in nearly four weeks.
In Monday’s middle match of the homestand against Anaheim, rookie Caps center Justin Sourdif popped off with a hat trick and a five-point night, in just his 46th career NHL game. Sourdif became the first Washington rookie to record a hat trick since Alex Ovechkin did so – also against Anaheim – on Jan. 13, 2006.
From late in the first period to midway through the second, Sourdif and linemates Connor McMichael and Ryan Leonard combined to score four goals in a span of just 11 minutes and 34 seconds of playing time and – for Sourdif and Leonard – just five shifts. For McMichael, who had assists on all four goals, it was four points on seven shifts. He was occasionally moonlighting with other linemates because Washington dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the game.
When Sourdif set up Ovechkin’s empty-net goal – the final marker in a 7-4 Washington win – the 23-year-old native of Richmond, B.C. became just the second Caps rookie ever – and the first rookie forward – to notch a five-point game. Sourdif also joined Ovechkin – his boyhood hockey idol – as the second Capital to have a hat trick with just three shots on net this season; Ovechkin did it in Montreal on Nov. 20.
The only other Washington rookie ever to enjoy a five-point night was defenseman Greg Theberge, who had a pair of goals and three helpers in a 10-4 thumping of the Flyers at Capital Centre on Nov. 21, 1981. Theberge scored one of his goals and picked up all three assists on the Washington power play, which scored five of the Caps’ 10 goals that night.
Dennis Maruk had a hat trick and six points and Tim Tookey also had a hat trick in the game.
In the aftermath of Monday’s game, one could have crafted a quilt from the threads of all the important and noteworthy moments and elements of the game.
The Caps and Ducks met in Anaheim exactly a month earlier, with Leonard entering that contest on the heels of a jaw-dropping performance of his own, a four-point game (two goals, two assists) on Dec. 3 in San Jose.
In the first period of that game in Anaheim, Leonard was denied on an early breakaway, and he fired a shot off the post later as well. He had clearly picked up where he left off the previous game, but that was interrupted by a high and heavy hit from Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba, one that dropped Leonard to the ice and ultimately out of the lineup for seven games.
Five seconds after the Ducks grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period of Monday’s rematch in Washington, Caps winger Brandon Duhaime challenged Trouba to a scrap. And early in the second, heavyweight Dylan McIlrath and Ducks winger Ross Johnston dropped the mitts as well.
Leonard scored in the front half of the second period on Monday, and it had to feel good for him to bank a shot in off Anaheim netminder Petr Mrazek from below the goal line while Trouba looked on haplessly from the slot. What felt even better was his teammates having his back.
“It was good,” says Leonard. “It doesn’t happen without Dewey doing that. It goes without saying, just the respect that I have for him and for Mac, too. Both of them had my back, and it seemed like the whole team did, too. It’s a great brotherhood in here, and I’m really, really fortunate to be part of this group.”
After Washington opened up a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead before the midpoint of the middle period, some of us recalled a similar game against Anaheim here, just over seven years ago, one in which the Caps were cruising along with a 5-1 lead, only to fall 6-5 to the Ducks in regulation, ending a seven-game winning streak.
The modern Ducks were nearly as plucky on Monday, they did not fly south when looking up at a four-goal deficit. Anaheim had the Caps on the ropes throughout much of the second and third periods of Monday’s game, and they managed to close the deficit to a very uncomfortable 5-4 with more than 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
Charlie Lindgren fought off every shot sent his way, making nine of his single-game season high 41 saves after the Ducks had made it 5-4. Lindgren got a boost from the Washington penalty killing outfit, which was a perfect 3-for-3 despite those three kills coming in the first minute of all three periods.
“Yeah, we did a really good job, our penalty kill,” says Lindgren. “The guys in front of me did such an excellent job of doing the little things. You’ve got to have good details on the PK, and I thought tonight we did that.”
The Caps’ penalty kill limited the Ducks to just three shots on net in those three penalty killing missions, all three in the first period and all from 30 feet or further from the Washington net.
Playing without three top six forwards on Monday, the Caps needed every bit of the production they got from the MLS line, but they also needed the cool and the precision of veteran John Carlson, who quelled the Anaheim uprising by lofting a perfect 173-foot shot to the back of the empty Anaheim net with 1:14 left.
“John with the empty netter,” beams Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I mean, I know you never really talk about an empty netter as a coach, but that game was touch and go to the end, and John just steps on their throat. He gets around the net and goes, ‘I'm going to end this right now, and I'm putting it right between the eyes.’
“And so, good on him. And that's a veteran player right there, knowing what's at stake there, and let's end this thing and put this thing to bed.”
Over the last few decades in these parts, Ovechkin, Carlson and Lars Eller have always been lethal from long distance, and Carlson stepped up in a big way to relieve the pressure. Ovechkin did so too, seconds later, cementing Sourdif’s legacy in the Five Point club.
Now, for an encore, the Caps will try once again to cobble together consecutive victories, something they haven’t been able to do since their shootout loss in Anaheim last month. Dallas is always a daunting opponent for the Capitals regardless of where the two teams are in the standings, but the Caps will have the edge in rest.
The Stars will be finishing up a set of back-to-backs on Wednesday in Washington; they opened a six-game road trip on Tuesday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes. Dallas had a rough ride of it in Raleigh, taking a 6-3 setback from the Canes.
The Stars and Canes were even at 1-1 first when Carolina struck for two late strikes in the opening period and two more in the front half of the second, blowing the game open with four goals in a span of 13 minutes and 27 seconds.
Carolina chased Dallas starter Jake Oettinger before the midpoint of the second period, after denting him for five goals on just 15 shots. Oettinger, who is 6-0-0 lifetime against the Capitals, probably retained just enough stamina to start again Wednesday in Washington.
Tuesday’s loss in the trip opener was the Stars’ sixth in succession (0-3-3), their longest slide of the season. Even with that lengthy dry spell, Dallas still holds the second-best record in the NHL, trailing only Colorado.
