Dec. 23 vs. New York Rangers at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
New York Rangers (18-16-4)
Washington Capitals (19-12-5)
Between now and the end of calendar 2025, the Capitals will host the New York Rangers twice, starting with Tuesday night in the last game for both teams prior to the NHL’s annual three-day holiday hiatus. The Rangers return on New Year’s Eve to provide the opposition for Washington’s final home game before the flip of the calendar.
Following a weekend home-and-home set of back-to-backs with the Detroit Red Wings, the Caps had an off day on Monday. They’ll reconvene for Tuesday’s morning skate and the game against the Rangers and then take the next three days away from the rink.
After dropping the weekend opener 5-2 to the Wings in Saturday afternoon in the District, the Caps put forth a much sharper game in Sunday’s rematch in Detroit, but they fell 3-2 in overtime.
Ethen Frank supplied both Washington goals in Sunday’s contest, and Dylan Strome helped set him up both times. That’s a bit ironic, because Caps coach Spencer Carbery made sweeping changes to his forward lines for Sunday’s game, and those alterations did not result in Frank and Strome landing on the same line. Strome opened the game with Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson as his wingers while Frank and Anthony Beauvillier flanked Nic Dowd.
Over the course of nearly 57 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey on Sunday, Frank and Strome’s path crossed for all of 76 seconds, enough to produce all the Caps’ offense in a game in which all four of Washington’s lines were reasonably effective at sustaining time in the offensive zone and posing a threat to the Red Wings.
“It’s huge,” says Carbery of Frank’s second two-goal game in 32 days. “We’ve needed every bit of it, right? He gets us the [standings] point tonight, scores two massive goals, including the game-[tying goal] in the third period, where you’re really gripping it, trying to find an equalizer. [He’s] stepping up big time for us, playing well, playing more minutes, playing an expanded role, and he’s earned every bit of that.”
For Strome, Sunday’s game snapped a short drought and was his first multi-point game since Nov. 20, the previous game in which Frank scored two goals. It was also the first game he didn’t play with Caps captain Alex Ovechkin in weeks. The Caps aren’t a goal-starved team, but they’ve been a bit streakier this season compared to last, and they’re also missing key offensive components in P-L Dubois and Ryan Leonard.
Giving Strome and Ovechkin some time apart lifted all boats on Sunday; all four Washington lines posted positive possession analytics, and the Caps controlled 61.06 percent of all 5-on-5 shot attempts in the game. That figure is more in line with the way the Caps had been playing through the back half of November.
“Yeah, usually you go through it; it’s a long season,” says Carbery. “I’m not going to say chemistry runs stale, it’s just sometimes you go through spurts where guys need to look at someone different on their left and right side, as simple as that. And usually, it happens when they've hit a bit of a dry spell, and that's what's going on with a couple of those lines.
“So, we'll look at something different. And the production part is one thing but creating more [is important]. And that's what I appreciated about [Sunday’s game]. I mean, we created close to four expected goals. So, if you're doing that on a nightly basis, you should win a lot of hockey games.”
In two of their last three games, the Caps have displayed the strong possession and dominant offensive zone style of hockey they’re capable of playing at their best, and they showed it occasionally in the other of those last three games as well, Saturday’s home ice loss to the Wings. Washington has had good puck movement and motion of bodies in the offensive zone, strong reads and pinches from their defense corps and their forwards have been good plays in the corners and along the walls to keep or retrieve pucks and extend or keep shifts alive.
The next step is just cashing in on a few more of those doorstep opportunities that their low-to-high, crash the net game is creating.
“I think it’s just getting guys a little confidence,” says Strome. “We see it with [Ovechkin] all the time, when he hasn’t scored for a couple of games and then he starts to get one, and two and three, and you build off that. Sometimes it’s nice to see the puck go in, but you’ve got to work to make that happen.
“The chances are there for us. I think we’ve just got to bear down. These are tight games that we’re in, and with how tight the East is, it feels like every game you’re either in or out of the playoffs. Those are the game where you’ve got to find it somehow, and really bear down when you get that chance in the slot or your one or two chances a game you get that are Grade A’s, you’ve got to bear down and put them in.”
Just as Frank did in the third period on Sunday, netting his ninth and 10th career NHL goals to help the Caps grab a point on the road. On his game-tying second shot, Frank took just a split second to try to settle a bouncing puck. But when it didn’t sit flat right away, he fired and scored.
“For sure, I definitely tried to,” says Frank of settling the puck. “I obviously just wanted to shoot the puck; it’s a prime time scoring area. I maybe tried to a little bit; I don’t know if I did all the way or not. I just thought, with a bouncing puck, try to catch the goalie off guard with a quick shot.”
With the two losses to the Wings over the weekend, the Caps fell to 4-6-2 against Atlantic Division competition. Now, they’ll play their next two games against their fellow Metropolitan Division denizens, starting with Tuesday’s tilt with the Rangers. The Caps are 7-2-2 against Metro foes in 2025-26.
In their first season under new head coach Mike Sullivan, the Rangers have had a unique start to their season in 2025-26. On the road, they’re 13-6-1, and their .675 road points pct. is fifth in the NHL and their rate of 3.05 goals per game ranks 11th in the circuit.
But at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers have a 5-10-3 record for a .361 points percentage, which ranks ahead of only Vancouver (.300) among the 32 NHL teams. New York has netted only 1.89 goals per game on home ice this season, where it has already suffered six shutout setbacks. The Rangers rank dead last in the League in goals per game on home ice.
In the first meeting of the season between the two teams – in New York on Oct. 12 – the Caps dealt the Blueshirts one of those whitewash defeats on home ice, 1-0 behind a 35-save performance from Charlie Lindgren and an Anthony Beauvillier goal in the second period.
