Northbound – The Caps take to the road this week for a two-game trip against a pair of Eastern Conference opponents. Tonight, the Caps face the Ottawa Senators for the first of three matches – two of them up this way – this season.
For the Capitals, this trip also begins a road heavy patch of scheduling over the next several weeks; they’ll play 11 of their next 16 games on the road after starting the season with 11 of their first 15 games on home ice.
“I think it helps with everything, just your team chemistry and guys are basically with each other for every second of the day, meals, bus rides,” says caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And when you're at home, there's always a lot going on. There are a lot of players that we have that are dads, and there are people in town, and there's always a lot with the season and managing your home life and that.
“And when you get out on the road, as crazy as this is, sometimes it's just simpler. It's just hockey, rest and rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. And it’s not like you're neglecting your responsibilities of being a dad and a husband because you're always staying in touch and whatnot. But getting out on the road and just being with the guys and playing in some different environments can be a positive.”
Century City – Back on April 1, 2025, Ryan Leonard made his NHL debut against the Bruins in Boston, a day after signing his entry level contract with the Capitals. Tonight in Ottawa, Leonard takes the ice for the 100th time as an NHL player, and he does so having already racked up 26 goals in 99 games. He joins Alex Ovechkin (64), Alexander Semin (39), Dmitri Khristich (38) and Peter Bondra (29) as one of only five Capitals since 1990 to score 25 or more goals in his first 100 games in the League.
“It’s pretty cool,” says Leonard. “I didn’t know that was a thing, but it’s cool to be a part of that group.”
Leonard is also more than holding his own against the NHL’s 2023 Draft class. His total of 26 goals ranks fifth among his draft class, and all four of the players ahead of him were also drafted ahead of him. Seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov had 31 goals through 100 NHL games, first overall pick Connor Bedard had 29, fourth pick Will Smith had 28 and third overall selection Adam Fantilli had 27.
What is it about Leonard that puts the 21-year-old Massachusetts native in such a lofty position, both in franchise history and compared to his peers?
“Talent, coachability, competitiveness,” answers Carbery. “I think those would probably be the three. The talent is from long before he came to Washington; you saw it at [Boston College] and on the world stage at the World Juniors.
“I think that goes without saying, but then also coming to the NHL is a whole different animal. And now him coming in, utilizing his talent, but also an ultra-, ultra-competitive young man, and then also being very, very coachable. [We’re] like, ‘Here are the things we're going to need you to do in order for you to be able to play in the NHL and be part of a hopefully winning team. We're asking you to do X, Y, Z,’ and he's a coachable young man, so he does X, Y, Z for the most part.
“And so, I think those are the three things that I look at, and I think he's just scratching the surface with what he's going to be able to accomplish in this League.”
We concur.
Draw The Line – Each of Washington’s four forward lines – as currently constituted – seems to be clicking as of late. All four lines have positive expected goals and Corsi analytics, and the Caps have been getting offensive contributions from a wide variety of players. In just the last two games, the Caps have had nine goals from nine different players, and 14 different skaters have found the scoresheet (h/t Carter Myers).
Dylan Strome’s line – with Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou – is comprised of the team’s three leading scorers, and it has a 51.26 percent expected goals rate according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Aliaksei Protas- Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson line is typically deployed – especially on home ice – as a shutdown line with offensive capabilities. That trio has an expected goals rate of 59.72 percent across just under 55 minutes together at 5-on-5.
The Alex Ovechkin-Justin Sourdif-Anthony Beauvillier line has played the second least amount of time together – under 20 minutes – but it has a 64.65 percent expected goals rate. Ovechkin has appeared to be on the verge of breaking through a scoring slump for the last three games or so.
“I think right now, we find some chemistry,” says the Caps captain. “You can see we have a couple of good chances – very good chances – and obviously I have last game great chances on the power play and 5-on-5.
“You just have to stick with it; you have to work. It doesn’t matter how many minutes you’re going to play, you just have to go out there and do the best that you can to help the team win.”
The Ilya Protas trio – with Boone Jenner and Ryan Leonard – has played the least amount of time together, with just 10:43 in the books at 5-on-5, but it has managed a gaudy 90.56 percent expected goals rate. That trio saw very little time together after Wilson’s game misconduct in the first period on Saturday against Florida, but it was almost always in the offensive zone when it was together.
“I feel like even though the actual goals going in the back of the net has fluctuated during our first 15 games, offensively, I think we've been pretty good for the most part,” says Carbery. “And all four lines, the way that this roster is built, and the way that we envisioned us being able to play, is a four-line team, and all four of those lines being able to contribute offensively and not just relying on five or six forwards to produce and score 35 goals each, and then rely on six guys to defend them.
“That's not how we're built, and so I think offensively, we've liked what we've seen from our group, and being able to rely on all four lines, and hopefully some nights it'll be line X, and then the next night it might be line Y that carries us with a couple or two or three 5-on-5 goals.”
With an average of 3.53 goals per game this season, Washington ranks eighth in the NHL heading into tonight’s game.
In The Nets – Logan Thompson gets the net for the Capitals tonight in Ottawa. Thompson comes into tonight’s contest on the heels of a nice bounce-back game for him Saturday in a 4-3 win over Florida, one game after he was pulled from a start against Dallas last Tuesday, just the second time he has been pulled for reasons other than injury in 111 starts in two-plus seasons with the Caps.
Thompson was nicked for a goal against on the first shot he faced, and he yielded another on a Florida power play in the first period. But he never allowed a lead-changing goal after that power play marker, picking up his sixth victory of the season.
“It's been an interesting year,” says Thompson. “I like a lot of my games for 55 minutes, and it just seems like I haven't been able to put a full 60 together yet, whether that's the final minute of a game, or getting through the first period, even the first shot. So I’m just trying to get in a rhythm here and keep working my way out of this little rut. And there's always a solution to everything.”
Tonight, Thompson takes on the Sens, and he may have some runway to get into a rhythm and find a groove, given that Washington doesn’t face games on consecutive nights for the next two weeks.
Lifetime against the Senators, Thompson is 6-1-1 with a shutout in eight appearances – seven starts – with a 2.36 GAA and a .929 save pct.
Although the Sens activated veteran goaltender Linus Ullmark (7-1-0 this season) from injured reserve over the weekend, Ottawa has opted to give the 33-year-old veteran a few extra days off, and it will stick with the hot hands of former Flyer Samuel Ersson in net tonight against Washington.
Since Ullmark went down with a lower body injury in an Oct. 21 game against Florida, Ersson has started four games as has Jonas Johansson. Over that span, Ersson is 3-1-1 in six appearances with a 2.11 GAA and a .923 save pct.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Ersson is 2-4-0 in six appearances – all starts – with a 2.84 GAA and an .875 save pct.
Ottawa recalled Jackson Parsons from AHL Belleville to serve as Ersson’s backup tonight.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and Sens might look Tuesday night in Kanata:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
89-Tuch, 17-Strome, 25-Kyrou
21-A. Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
8-Ovechkin, 34-Sourdif, 72-Beauvillier
22-Jenner, 62-I. Protas, 9-Leonard
Defense
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
42-Fehervary, 27-Liljegren
44-Hutson, 29-St. Ivany
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Injured/Out
38-Sandin (lower body)
73-Desharnais (appendectomy)
Healthy Extras
4-Holl
53-Frank
63-Miroshnichenko
OTTAWA
Forwards
20-Zetterlund, 18-Stutzle, 24-Cozens
21-Cousins, 12-Pinto, 19-Batherson
22-Amadio, 71-Grieg, 28-Giroux
79-Blais, 34-Halliday, 62-Tomasino
Defense
85-Sanderson, 2-Zub
72-Chabot, 10-Spence
43-Kleven, 33-Matinpalo
Goaltenders
30-Ersson
31-Parsons
Injured/out
27-Eklund (lower body)
37-Foegele (lower body)
95-Burakovsky (lower body)
Healthy Extras
26-Yakemchuk
35-Ullmark
42-Hodgson
