October 15 vs. Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Vegas Golden Knights (3-0-0)
Washington Capitals (0-1-0)
For the first two weeks of October, the Capitals’ schedule resembled that of a football team. The Caps played once a week – and only on Saturday – over the front half of this month. But starting on Tuesday when the Vegas Golden Knights come into town for the middle match of Washington’s three-game, season-opening homestand, it will start to feel like hockey season once again.
The Capitals play three games on alternating nights over the remainder of the week, and they’ll hit the road for the first time this weekend. They also have their first set of back-to-back games – both with unusual start times – to contend with next week.
This past Saturday night, the Caps finally dropped the puck on their season opener; they were the 31st of the League’s 32 teams to do so when they hosted the New Jersey Devils, who were playing their fourth game of the season at the same time.
The Caps’ penalty killing outfit enabled the team to overcome a couple of early tripping calls, and Washington jumped out to a 1-0 lead on John Carlson’s power-play goal in the middle of the first frame. But the Caps committed some early season miscues that cost them – particularly in the second period – and they dropped a 5-3 decision to their Metro Division rivals.
Washington also lost defenseman Matt Roy to a lower body injury early in the second period; Roy was one of six Capitals making his Washington debut in Saturday’s season opener. With Roy out of the picture for Tuesday’s game against Vegas, the Caps will likely turn to Dylan McIlrath to replace him on the right side of a pairing with Martin Fehervary.
Following a mediocre training camp, Washington’s third line of Hendrix Lapierre, Sonny Milano and Aliaskei Protas also struggled in Saturday’s opener; the trio was on the ice for three goals against in a span of just four shifts late in the first and early in the second period of the game against the Devils.
At Monday’s practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, alterations were made to two of Washington’s four forward groups. Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin moved from the left to the shotgun side of center Dylan Strome, with the versatile Protas moving from the right side of the third line to the left side of the Strome unit.
Lapierre skated the middle of a trio with Andrew Mangiapane on the left, and with Milano and Jakub Vrana alternating reps on the right.
“Well, the third line struggled, so it’s as simple as that,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “I don’t need to go into the details of that. We’ve got to make a change on that third line, to try to figure out a way to deploy that line, so it’s as easy as that.”
In Saturday’s opening night contest, the Lapierre line was the only one of the four forward lines entirely comprised of players from last season’s Caps team. Last season, Lapierre centered a line with Milano and Max Pacioretty, who is now with Toronto. Last year’s model had chemistry, it worked well together, and it consistently generated offense down the stretch when Washington was vying for a playoff berth. But with Protas skating the right side this fall, the trio never really gelled at any point in the preseason, and it sunk low enough in the opener that changes are forthcoming ahead of game two.
The addition of Mangiapane on the left side of the line – Vrana is likely to skate the right side on Tuesday – was made to add some reliability to the unit, according to Carbery.
“We had concerns on that line in the offseason,” admits Carbery. “And coming into camp, it was always on my radar. And unfortunately, it played out the way that we had feared. They had a tough night on opening night, and you hope that doesn’t happen for those guys.
“Lappy has to help himself, but we also need to insulate him. And as a staff, we have to find some guys who can help him be productive and play a solid game.”
As coachable a player as you’ll ever see, Protas knows his game can and must be better, as he goes from dash-3 in just over 10 minutes of work on opening night, straight up to the top six – with Ovechkin and Strome – on Tuesday.
“For sure, that’s a huge privilege, especially after the last game,” says Protas of his upward mobility in the lineup. “Let’s be honest. Basically, our line lost this game because we got that minus-3.
“Well, we’ve got to move forward. Those nights happen, and we’ve got to analyze what can be better, especially me on the second goal – and even the first goal – I’ve got to be better. And I will be.
“And now, moving to the first line, it sure gives me confidence to work twice as [hard] and help Stromer and O as much as I can in the ways that I can, just work hard at winning battles and help them have success.”
Essentially, Protas will be expected to provide some speed, forechecking ability and sound two-way play to that line, and both he and Mangiapane will now be playing on their strong sides; neither did so in Saturday’s opener. And Mangiapane brings some veteran stability to Lapierre’s line, while Vrana gets into the lineup in place of Milano.
“We just made an adjustment with the line, just putting Protas there,” says Carbery. “A lefty, and we’re trying keep him on his strong side. We’ve got an influx of left-shot wingers, so we’re trying to tinker around with preventing one of those guys from having to play on their offside.”
Carbery also indicated that McIlrath would get the nod in Roy’s absence, with the idea again being the preservation of the right/left balance the Caps have achieved with their back end; they opened the season with four lefties and four righties among their octet of blueliners.
“Definitely not ideal to lose him in the first game, for the game itself and then for the foreseeable future,” says Carbery of the Roy injury. “But that’s why we have eight [defensemen] here, and hopefully it’s an opportunity for guys to step up, not only for guys coming into the lineup, but for [Trevor van Riemsdyk] to play a few more minutes.
“Unfortunately, it’s probably going to put a little bit more stress on John [Carlson], but we’ll have to manage it.”
Carlson led the NHL with an average nightly ice time of 25:54 last season. The offseason additions of defensemen Roy and Jakob Chychrun were made in part to ease back on Carlson’s workload as he approaches his 35th birthday in January.
Now in his 20th NHL season, Ovechkin has seen a few line changes over his career. He seemed unfazed by Monday’s lineup movements.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know if I’m going to play right or left [on Tuesday],” shrugs Ovechkin. “Maybe I’m going to play goalie tomorrow; we never know. But we still have opportunities to find combinations. It’s the beginning of the year. There are new faces on the team, so we have to find the right combinations, the right chemistry. And that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
Ovechkin won’t be playing goalie on Tuesday, but Logan Thompson sure looks and sounds like the guy getting the Tuesday night nod against Vegas, his former employer.
“I’m not sure yet,” says Thompson. “I haven’t had that discussion yet with Carbs or [goaltending coach] Scotty [Murray]. But it’s going to be a fun game. I’m excited to play against them, and excited to see a lot of familiar faces.
“Obviously it’s a lot of mixed feelings playing against your old team, but a lot of good memories there that I’ll have forever. Like I said, I’m excited for [Tuesday] night, and we’ll just wait and see what happens.”
Vegas is off to a perfect 3-0 start, carving its way through a three-game season opening homestand with a comfortable 15-8 goal differential. Most recently, the Knights dropped the Anaheim Ducks by a 3-1 count on Sunday night at T-Mobile. Anaheim, the only NHL club to drop the puck later than the Capitals this season, was finishing a season-opening set of back-to-backs after opening the 2024-25 campaign a night earlier with a 2-0 win over the Sharks in San Jose.
When Vegas was last in town in November of last year, the Golden Knights made a morning stop at the White House to be feted by President Biden before conducting an afternoon practice session at MedStar. This time around, they’re opening their first road trip of the season. After Tuesday’s game in the District, the Knights travel to Florida, where they will face the Lightning on Thursday and the Panthers on Saturday.
