Emotional Rescue – It’s been a number of days because the Caps final performed; they’ve had three days between video games for the primary time since early December, vacation and Olympic breaks however. Those three days have been eventful ones for the Capitals, and not in a contented manner.
Thursday, the Caps discovered that middle Nic Dowd – in the course of his eighth season with Washington – had been dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights. A day later, the Caps woke to the information of John Carlson – in the course of his seventeenth season as a Capital – being shipped to the Anaheim Ducks.
Losing two key gamers and members of the Washington management group in as many days despatched some shockwaves by way of the Caps’ locker room over the past couple of days, and now the group reconvenes for its most essential sport thus far, as we speak’s matinee affair with the Bruins in Boston.
Washington trails the Bruins by solely 4 factors within the standings, and it might reduce that deficit in half with a regulation victory right here as we speak.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “The final two days have been extraordinarily tough on the group. And to say that I noticed positivity and power could be a lie. That’s yesterday and the day earlier than.
“Now, I even have a number of confidence within the management group that is nonetheless right here and the remainder of our group of understanding we have now a job to do, and we’re nonetheless on this battle. And so yeah, we misplaced two nice folks, two nice gamers, two large elements of our workforce, however we even have a number of actually good gamers nonetheless right here on this roster that may completely win hockey video games within the National Hockey League.
“And so that’s the focus. It’s okay, we understand what went on. It’s disappointing, it’s sad, it’s all those things. And now today, we got an opportunity to play against a great Bruin team on the road, and an opportunity to get two points and get ourselves back or a little bit closer to playoff position.”
Both Carlson and Dowd had been vocal leaders within the room and on the bench, and each had been elements of Washington’s management group, leaving a few vacancies in these essential off-ice roles. We questioned in regards to the strategy of filling these vacancies.
“I don’t think you do that overnight,” says Carbery. “I do not suppose it is like now [someone] turns into Nic Dowd and [someone] turns into John Carlson. Because for all the pieces that they did on the ice for us and the roles that they performed, they had been large, large personalities – as you realize – in our locker room, from the lunchroom to the bus to within the locker room, speaking in between intervals, these two guys had been large items of our locker room.
“So, is someone going to assume that role today? No, but over time, as guys grow into leadership roles and as they feel a little bit more comfortable and have to understand that they have to fill that void, the Matt Roys of the world, Jakob Chychruns of the world on the back end of filling those voids, and Dylan Strome. So, all those guys now you look for take a little bit of piece of that leadership and those voices in the locker room.”
As the Caps attempt to transfer previous the lack of two valued teammates on and off the ice, as we speak’s early begin could also be a blessing.
“I think it actually helps,” says Carbery of enjoying on the street. “Afternoon, too. You just get right back into it, and there’s no morning skate. There’s no sitting around thinking about things. It’s wake up, breakfast. Get to the rink and let’s play; let’s drop the puck. And like I said, I’ve got confidence that our group is not going to go quietly into the night and just lay down because we lost two big pieces of our team. Our guys are going to continue to push and compete, hold each other to a high standard, and that’s what we expect. And I don’t expect to see anything different today.”
Back In Beantown – Washington makes only one go to to Boston this season, and it comes simply over 11 months since its earlier common season journey to Beantown, which was a 4-3 Caps victory right here on April 1, 2025.
That date can also be the date of Ryan Leonard’s NHL debut; the Caps winger signed his three-year entry stage contract an evening earlier, simply after the workforce arrived on the town for the sport. Leonard had simply concluded his sophomore season at Boston College, and the Massachusetts native was capable of make his NHL debut in his dwelling state and close to the place he performed collegiate hockey.
Leonard performed the ultimate 9 common season video games with Washington final season, and he additionally obtained into eight Stanley Cup playoff video games, all as a 20-year-old. This season, his first full marketing campaign within the NHL, Leonard has totaled 11 targets and 20 assists for 31 factors in 56 video games.
Nearly a 12 months after embarking upon his NHL profession, and simply forward of the Caps’ first return to Boston since then, Leonard took a while to mirror on how the final 12 months has unfolded for him.
“Just how quick it goes past,” says Leonard of his greatest takeaway from 12 months one within the NHL. “It’s bizarre. The guys advised me initially of the season simply how briskly the season goes, and you blink and it is summer time once more, and then you definitely blink once more and it is coaching camp. So, it is completely different. It was a lot completely different initially with simply enjoying nevertheless many video games it’s a week and enjoying double the quantity of video games that I performed final 12 months within the season.
“But now it just feels like – and it’ll feel a little bit weird this week, with having those [three] days off, which is odd and not normal at all — you need to be playing every two days. So, it’s been a lot, but it’s also been a lot of fun.”
It’s been a number of enjoyable for these of us who watch the video games to see Leonard on an evening in, evening out foundation and to marvel at a few of the performs and strikes he makes, and to attempt to think about what his sport is likely to be like in a season or two, and the place his ceiling is likely to be.
“Good,” is how Leonard characterizes how his sport has progressed since his first NHL coaching camp final September. “There are undoubtedly a number of particulars that I have to sharpen up, and there are nonetheless a shole lot of particulars to develop in my sport to be the participant I wish to turn into.
“Right now, it’s been just a little bit powerful with producing, and that occurs in skilled hockey; it’s not all the time going to be excellent for you. And there have been some factors this 12 months the place the manufacturing was there, however my sport wasn’t nearly as good as I wished it to be. Sometimes, you simply get rewarded for no matter purpose, however persevering with to work and persevering with to do all the nice issues, and be reliable on the market, and be reliable for the coaches to maintain placing me on the market.
Leonard is tied with the Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer for the NHL lead amongst rookies with 28 penalties drawn this season, and Lenoard has performed seven fewer video games than the Isles rookie blueliner.
“I like to play with a chip on my shoulder; I always have and I always will,” says Leonard. “And a lot of the guys always tell me to keep that chip on your shoulder, because that’s kind of when you’re at your best. You look at any player that has a physical presence out there, and when they’re playing with that edge, that’s when they’re playing their best. So just continue to do that. And when the offense is there, do it. But there’s also been times where maybe I force it, where I don’t really need to, and that’s also been part of the learning curve this year, and it’ll only get better.”
There’s little doubt of that.
New Blood – Late Friday afternoon, forward of the three pm NHL commerce deadline, the Caps snuck in a few acquisitions below the wire. They obtained defenseman Timothy Liljegren from San Jose in change for a fourth-round decide (initially belonging to Vegas) within the 2026 NHL Draft and acquired middle David Kampf from Vancouver in change for a sixth-rounder in 2026.
Carbery has a historical past with each gamers from his days as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Liljegren was a first-round decide (seventeenth general) within the 2017 NHL Draft and Kampf signed with Toronto as a free agent in the summertime of 2021.
“Yeah, a little bit of a Maple Leaf reunion,” says Carbery. “I obtained a number of texts from the previous workers there, getting the band again collectively.
“I know them both really, really well. David Kampf, very similar to a Nic Dowd; he plays that same type of role. He is a defensive specialist, takes a lot of [defensive] zone draws, can penalty kill. So, that’s his MO and he knows his identity and his role to a tee. Timothy Liljegren, right shot defenseman. So, he’s sort of your prototypical puck mover, good defender. He can give you a little bit of the offensive blue line, but also takes pride in his defensive game. So I would say he’s your 200-foot, puck moving defenseman that will come in and give us some depth on the right side.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson might be in objective for Washington this afternoon, searching for his twenty second win of the season. He has received three of his final 4 begins, yielding an mixture complete of eight targets in opposition to within the course of.
Lifetime in opposition to the Bruins, Thompson is 3-2-0 in 5 appearances – all begins – with a 1.99 GAA and a .934 save pct.
For the Bruins, we expect to see Jeremy Swayman between the pipes as we speak. Swayman is aiming for his twenty fourth victory of the season. He is 7-2-1 in his final 10 begins.
Lifetime in opposition to the Capitals, Swayman is 4-6-0 in 11 appearances – 10 begins – with a 1.89 GAA and a .930 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Bruins would possibly look on Saturday afternoon Boston:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 72-Beauvillier
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
47-Chisholm, 38-Sandin
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
27-Liljegren
52-McIlrath
63-Miroshnichenko
64-Kampf
Injured/Out
None
BOSTON
Forwards
92-Khusnutdinov, 28-E. Lindholm, 88-Pastrnak
11-Mittelstadt, 18-Zacha, 71-Arvidsson
81-Eyssimont, 93-Minten, 39-Geekie
84-Jeannot, 52-Kuraly, 47-Kastelic
Defensemen
91-Zadorov, 73-McAvoy
27-H. Lindholm, 6-Lohrei
43-Harris, 26-Peeke
Goalies
1-Swayman
70-Korpisalo
Healthy Extras
20-Jokiharju
21-Steeves
45-Aspirot
Injured/Out
None
