Nov. 22 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Tampa Bay Lightning (11-7-2)
Washington Capitals (11-8-2)
Carrying a three-game winning streak through a busy stretch of hockey, the Caps open a four-game homestand on Saturday night, hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Saturday’s game is the third and final meeting between the two teams this season; the Lightning is the first team the Caps are finished with for the 2025-26 season.
Playing their only road game in a stretch of 18 nights on Thursday in Montreal, threes were wild for the Capitals.
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored three goals to record his 33rd career hat trick, becoming the sixth player in NHL history to notch a hat trick at age 40 or greater, and he also broke into the NHL’s top ten in all-time scoring in recording his 1,642nd career point, dislodging Joe Sakic (1,641).
Dylan Strome had three assists, and after the game, he announced the birth of his third daughter – Sutton Kimberley Strome – who was born during the first period of Thursday’s game. Strome and wife Tayler were able to FaceTime at first intermission, shortly after Sutton’s arrival.
All that added up to Washington’s third win in a row – and its third in four nights – an 8-4 victory over the Canadiens. And finally, it marked the third time in franchise history the Capitals scored seven or more goals on consecutive days; the second of those occurrences was earlier this year, on Feb. 22-23, 2025. The Caps defeated Edmonton 7-4 on Wednesday in Washington.
While Strome and Ovechkin garnered the headlines, there were other noteworthy contributions to Thursday’s win, which gives the Caps their first three-game winning streak since winning four straight just over a month ago, from Oct. 11-17.
Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves – including some timely ones to keep the Caps from falling behind in a game replete with momentum shifts – to pick up his second win of the week. And the Caps, in dire need of secondary scoring of late, got four goals from their fourth line, two each from Ethen Frank and Sonny Milano, with Hendrix Lapierre chipping in a pair of assists.
Frank notched his first career power-play goal and his first career multi-point game while also coming within a whisker of recording a natural hat trick.
“It’s huge,” says Ovechkin. “I’m happy for Frankie and for Sonny. They take this opportunity and show that it doesn’t matter what’s going to happen, they can fill in for those guys who get injured. I’m happy for them. They are working hard and were a big part of our success tonight.”
Washington also got a goal and three assists from its back end on Thursday night. Caps defensemen have combined for 14 goals and 56 points in 21 games, ranking second in the NHL in goals and tied for second in points. The team’s blueliners have accounted for 30.8% of its points this season, the highest share in the League.
And finally, with a pair of assists on Thursday in Montreal, John Carlson has amassed five helpers in two games and has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 20 games on the season. In doing so, Carlson becomes the seventh different defenseman in NHL history to put up at least 18 points in his first 20 games of a season at age 35 or older. His current rate of 2.5 points/60 is the second highest rate of his career; he was at 2.6 in 2019-20 when he finished second to Roman Josi in Norris Trophy balloting.
With 744 career points (160 goals, 584 assists), Carlson has surpassed both Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe (742) and Mathieu Schneider (743) and now ranks fifth all-time in scoring among U.S.-born defensemen.
The Caps played a lot of high event hockey in just over 24 hours, and they had Friday off to rest before facing the Lightning on Saturday.
“They’re tough teams, like Edmonton [Wednesday] night,” said Caps coach Spencer Carbery in the afterglow of Thursday’s memorable game and win in Montreal. “Tonight and in this building, it’s always difficult to play to here, and on the road. And then you put in the back-to-back, you put in the ability of their team, you put in a little added juice to the game because of last year in the playoff series.
“So now you’ve got all these different factors, and I thought we played really well. We made some mistakes, but given the situation and on a back-to-back, you’re going to make a few mental mistakes in these circumstances, but I thought we played really well. We had great energy on the bench, guys were skating, we’re in on the forecheck, we’re able to get some pucks back; we’re doing a lot of good things offensively.
“It’s not an easy game to play, not an easy team to play against. And for us to gut that one out was impressive.”
During a home heavy stretch in which it plays five of six games in Tampa, Saturday’s game in Washington is the lone road game for the Lightning in that span.
Despite a rash of varying injuries to kay players that has plagued them virtually since the season’s start, the Lightning is hanging in as always. Since an uncharacteristic 1-4-2 start, the Bolts have won 10 of their last 13 (10-3-0) to charge their way to a three-way tie for second place in the tightly packed Atlantic Division standings.
Saturday’s game is the rubber match for the season series between the Capitals and the Lightning. Two weeks ago, the Caps made their only visit to Tampa Bay, where they dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Lightning on Nov. 8. Here in Washington on Oct. 14, the Caps claimed a 3-2 overtime victory on Jakob Chychrun’s goal in the extra session.
