You Want The Candy – The Caps host the New York Islanders tonight in the second of three consecutive one-off “homestands.” For Washington, Friday’s game is the front end of a weekend set of back-to-back contests; the Caps travel to Buffalo immediately after tonight’s tilt for a Saturday night date with the Sabres.
As for the Islanders, they’re finishing up a set of back-to-backs tonight in the District. New York was in Carolina last night, where it absorbed a third straight loss (0-2-1). The Isles fell 6-2 on Thursday in a physical game in Raleigh, and it will be incumbent on the Caps to make them feel the body again tonight.
Washington is aiming to avoid a third straight loss and seeking to improve upon its 3-3-0 home record as it closes out the October portion of its schedule with the fourth of its 26 Metropolitan Division matchups this season. The Caps are 3-0-0 against divisional foes in the early going of 2025-26.
As they head into this weekend’s set of games, the Caps will likely be without defenseman Rasmus Sandin (upper body) for both games, and center Dylan Strome’s status is still to be determined.
“We’ll see,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Strome’s potential availability. “I’ve got to talk to the medical staff, and we’ll see if he can.”
Carbery termed Sandin – who was again sporting a light blue non-contact sweater at today’s morning skate -- as less likely than Strome to see game action this weekend.
“He’s probably a little bit further away that I would say Stromer, just based on non-contact still,” says Carbery. “I would say that it’s highly likely that he’s out for the weekend.”
As for the Islanders, they’re the first team the Caps are seeing for a second time this season. Washington played its first road game of the season in Elmont, NY against the Islanders on Oct. 11, skating away with a 4-2 victory.
“I don't focus too much on the back-to-back part [of New York’s schedule], but what we do focus on is a team that we've played before; we saw them in the second game of the year,” says Carbery. “So, we got familiar with them, their personnel, style of play. I remember saying this even in game two – looking at their team, their roster makeup, the way that they play – they're a much more dangerous transition rush team than maybe your traditional thinking, back to the Islanders of the early 2020s. They've got a lot of guys that can skate, can make plays off entry, try to hold onto pucks, and can turn even man situations into high danger opportunities. That's what you notice with a lot of their personnel now.
“And then you add [rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer] to that mix, and that goes right in line with what they're trying to do, or what they're doing a really good job of doing. We saw that in their building, and so we have some good examples of they came very close or were able to exploit the strengths of their group.
“That’s what we focus on in making sure that we’re ready to perform well, up to our standard tonight at home.”
Ghost On The Canvas – There was a light moment following the Caps’ Thursday practice when Carbery was queried as to what he is seeing and what he wants to see from his team offensively. As part of the question, Carbery was reminded that his team is used to being in the top three in the NHL in scoring, while it currently sits 25th in the League with an average of 2.70 goals per game, still just 10 games into the season.
“Well, I’d ask you,” Carbery queried back, “what year are you referring to, my first year here, or my second year?”
It’s a valid rejoinder. The Caps’ last two seasons started off vastly different from an offensive standpoint, with this season’s first 10 games more closely resembling the outset of Carbery’s initial season behind the Washington bench in 2023-24.
Ten games into that 2023-24 season, the Caps owned a respectable 5-4-1 record, despite ranking 31st among the Original 32 in scoring, with a paltry rate of just 1.90 goals per game, nearly a full goal below this season’s rate.
Looking back at Carbery’s first NHL squad, it must have been getting it done with the proverbial smoke and mirrors; the team was tied for 13th in goals against per game with exactly 3.0, and its power play ranked 31st at 9.7 percent while its penalty kill was tied for 14th with a kill rate of 79.4 percent. Remarkably, the 2023-24 Caps were also outscored by a goal a game at 5-on-5 (12-22) at the 10-game mark of the season. They started and ended the season as an overachieving bunch.
Last season’s group rolled to an 8-2-0 start through 10 games, scoring a whopping 4.40 goals per game (third in the NHL) while yielding 2.90 goals against per game (seventh). Its power play was also far from prolific at 9.1 percent (30th) and its penalty kill was clicking at a sturdy rate of 83.3 percent (tied for eighth). Most notably, the ’24-25 Caps were a plus-14 at 5-on-5 scoring (33-19), an incredible swing of plus-24 goals from the same point of the season before.
This year’s model jumped out to a 6-2-0 start before dropping its last two games, scoring just one goal in the process. A peek under the hood at the 10-game mark of this season shows the Caps rank 25th in the NHL with an average of 2.70 goals per game, and they’re the stingiest team in the League in goals against at 2.20. While their power play is clicking at virtually double the rate of either of the last two seasons at 18.8 percent, they rank 20th in extra-man efficiency, and their lowly 67.9 percent penalty kill rate stands 27th heading into the final night of October. At 5-on-5, they’re a respectable plus-6, slightly less than half of last season’s gaudy goal differential.
It's early, small sample sizes abound, and numbers fluctuate a lot at this time of year. But it’s no secret the Caps are looking to stimulate their offensive attack, and it’s been a difficult task with centers P-L Dubois and now Strome missing time with injuries.
While the Caps have been generally pleased with their underlying offensive analytics to this point of the season, it hasn’t yet translated to as many blinking red lights as they had hoped.
“[Offensive] zone time is not something that’s, I don’t want to say ‘strong,’ but it’s not a strong suit of our group,” says Carbery. “Because we have a couple lines where it’s more difficult for them to move around and skate, and to cut back and hold onto pucks. In my time here – and I’ve dove into it a lot because you want to spend as much time in the offensive zone as you can – we’re generally around the middle of the pack in that stat, and it’s always caught me off guard.
“Last year especially, we were one of the top offensive expected goal teams in the League, but our [offensive] zone time is just middle of the pack. Why is that? When you dive into it, it’s just a little bit more challenging for us to move around. It’s just not how we’re built a little bit, but it’s something that I pay attention to. But I don’t get overly concerned with us being in the top five or the top three in zone time.”
Washington’s previous home game last Saturday against Ottawa was a throwaway; a 7-1 loss in which there were no silver linings. The Caps’ 1-0 loss to the Stars on Dallas was much different. Washington carried play for large swaths of that contest, holding the Stars without a shot on net for more than 20 minutes of playing time in the middle of the contest, and ringing the iron on four occasions.
They couldn’t buy a bounce – or a goal – though; the lone goal of the game came on a Dallas power play, and it happened when Caps defenseman Martin Fehervary made a correct read on an impending cross-crease seam pass. Fehervary got his stick in the path of the puck to disrupt its trajectory, but he ended up deflecting it into his own net.
Over each of Carbery’s three seasons in Washington, his team has displayed the unique ability to win games in different ways and with different players stepping up, and they’re confident it’s going to be that way again this season. They defend so well that they’re rarely out of games; they played well enough to win at least two of the four games they’ve lost to date.
“That’s part of our foundation, too,” says Caps defenseman John Carlson. “And I always attribute our success last year to the year before, where we didn't have the scoring touch, we didn't have the flair that we've shown to have since then. But man, we competed hard, and we built a really good foundation of defensive zone play and making it hard on other teams to score.
“And there's also a balance to that. I think there's aggressiveness balanced with being positionally sound and secure. And I think we've done a good job of striking when we can to break plays up to try to limit [defensive] zone time, but also to stay positionally sound, and layered up to make sure that if there is a breakdown, we're not giving up one of those layups, or a guy all alone taking a one-timer in the between the hash marks.”
Tonight, they’ll get back at it and try to scratch out more offense than what they’ve been able to manage in their last two outings.
“I thought our line had some good chances,” says Caps winger Anthony Beauvillier of the Dallas game. “We had a good game. I thought we're quick on pucks and created some scoring chances. And usually when you do that – when you have scoring chances -- it means you're doing good things, and it’s just unfortunate it didn’t go into the back of the net. But we’re looking to do that tonight.”
Grand Junction – For the third time this month, a member of the Caps’ hockey operations department is marking a significant milestone. Assistant athletic trainer Steve Ruhmel turns over the odometer tonight, reaching game No. 1,000 for his pro career.
Now in his sixth season with Washington, Ruhmel came to the Caps from New Jersey, where he spent four seasons in the same position with the Devils. Ruhmel spent four seasons working his way up to the NHL in the Florida system, putting in two seasons as head athletic trainer with ECHL Florida and another two seasons in the AHL at San Antonio and Portland (Maine), respectively.
Ruhmel follows in the milestone footsteps of assistant coach – video Brett Leonhardt and director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Jason Serbus, who reached 1,000 games coached in the NHL and 2,000 professional games worked earlier this month.
In The Nets – Logan Thompson starts for the Capitals tonight against the Islanders. He played his 50th game as a Capital in Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to the Stars in Dallas; his 36 wins (36-6-8) are the most of any Washington netminder through his first 50 games in franchise history. Among goaltenders with at least three starts to this point of the campaign, Thompson’s 1.44 GAA ranks second in the circuit and his .939 save pct. ranks third. He has yielded two or fewer goals against in each of his seven starts this season, including a 4-2 win over the Isles in New York on Oct. 11.
Lifetime against the Islanders, Thompson is 3-1-1 in five appearances – all starts – with a 2.57 GAA and a .914 save pct.
In the front end of a set of back-to-backs on Thursday night in Carolina, the Isles went with backup goaltender David Rittich, who absorbed his first setback of the season, 6-2 to the Hurricanes. That means they’ve saved No. 1 netminder Ilya Sorokin for Friday night’s tilt with the Capitals. On the season, Sorokin is 2-4-1 in seven starts with a 3.75 GAA and an .868 save pct.
Lifetime against the Caps, Sorokin is 4-5-1 in 10 appearances – all starts – with a 2.41 GAA and a .920 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Capitals and the Islanders might look on Friday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
8-Ovechkin, 24-McMichael, 9-Leonard
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 72-Beauvillier
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 34-Sourdif
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
57-van Riemsdyk, 47-Chisholm
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
52-McIlrath
Injured/Out
17-Strome (lower body)
38-Sandin (upper body)
53-Frank (upper body)
NEW YORK
Forwards
11-Duclair, 13-Barzal, 21-Palmieri
29-Drouin, 14-Horvat, 51-Heineman
27-Lee, 44-Pageau, 10-Holmstrom
32-MacLean, 53-Cizikas, 7-Tsyplakov
Defensemen
3-Pelech, 6-Pulock
48-Schaefer, 24-Mayfield
28-Romanov, 77-DeAngelo
Goalies
30-Sorokin
33-Rittich
Healthy Extras
34-A. Boqvist
49-Shabanov
64-Ritchie
Injured/Out
40-Varlamov
74-Bear
