MTL@WSH: What you need to know

WASHINGTON – October’s whirlwind comes to a close in the District of Columbia as the Canadiens square off with the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

Here’s what you need to know heading into the game:

TEAM COMPARISONS

The Capitals (6-2-0) have hit the ground running with their best eight-game start to a season since 2015-16 and have taken down some of the NHL’s juggernauts in the Dallas Stars, New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights along the way. More impressively, they’ve done it with minimal support from their power play, which is currently working at a mere 7.4%. Yet, that’s about the only thing that hasn’t been clicking for Spencer Carbery’s men. Balanced scoring and a sound defensive game ranks the Caps inside the top 10 in goals for and goals against per game, and places them third in a stacked Metropolitan Division.

Part of the beauty of the National Hockey League’s schedule is its fast-paced nature. That’ll play in the Canadiens’ favor tonight, as they eagerly look to shake off an ugly 8-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken at the Bell Centre on Tuesday. With a win in Washington, the Habs would close out the first month of the season with a .500 record and momentum ahead of a road-heavy start to November.

PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR

Mike Matheson is on a sneaky five-game point streak for the Canadiens. Though the defenseman has not yet scored this season, he has contributed in other ways, registering nine assists in 10 games, including six in his last five. Matheson tied his career high with 11 goals and posted a new personal best with 62 points in 82 appearances last year.

Besides Alex Ovechkin, who is currently 38 goals from passing Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history, the Habs will look to shut down a red-hot Dylan Strome. The 27-year-old has found the scoresheet in all but one of the Caps’ games this season and leads the team with 11 points.

BY THE NUMBERS: HABS-CAPS

Here’s how the Canadiens and Capitals match up by the numbers:

LINEUP NEWS

A shake up to the lineup is forthcoming. The only question is, to what extent? Wednesday’s news, announcing Logan Mailloux was loaned to the Laval Rocket all but confirms that either Justin Barron or Kaiden Guhle is ready to return to game action—if not both. Beyond that, there were new forward line combinations at yesterday’s practice, but we’ll have to wait until tonight to see if head coach Martin St-Louis deploys those trios at puck drop.

Subscribe to or follow the team on YouTube, Facebook and X (@CanadiensMTL) to catch St-Louis' pregame press conference around 11:00 a.m. ET, and keep on eye on the Canadiens social accounts for any potential lineup news. For the full official lineup, check back on the team’s social accounts closer to puck drop.