Jan. 21 vs. Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place
Time: 9:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (31-10-5)
Edmonton Oilers (29-14-3)
As they embark upon their longest road trip of the season, the Capitals carry a four-game winning streak and a 10-game point streak (7-0-3) with them out west as they get set to open a five-game, 12-day trip on Tuesday night in Edmonton.
Washington’s winning streak is its fourth of at least four games in duration this season, and its current point streak is the longest in the NHL this season. The Caps also had a nine-game point streak (8-0-1) earlier in the season.
The Caps also set a franchise record with 10 straight road victories earlier in 2024-25, from Nov. 9-Dec. 12. Washington went just 1-4-1 in its next six road games, but two of the victories in its current winning streak were achieved on the road, in Nashville and Ottawa, respectively.
In each of those road wins over the Predators and the Senators, the Caps weren’t at their best in the game’s first 40 minutes, but Logan Thompson’s stalwart goaltending kept the Caps from falling behind. Washington engineered a third-period rally to win in Nashville and it eked out a 1-0 win on Alex Ovechkin’s 27th career overtime game-winner last week in Ottawa.
As the Caps made their way over to Rogers Place for a Monday morning practice session, they learned that Thompson had been named the NHL’s No. 1 star for the week ending Sunday. In three starts last week, Thompson stopped 61 of 62 shots he faced, posting a 3-0-0 mark with a microscopic 0.33 GAA and a lusty .984 save pct.
Thompson is the first Caps goalie to post back-to-back shutouts since November of 2021, and he forged a shutout streak of 198 minutes and 22 seconds, the third longest in the franchise’s half century history. Thompson came within five and a half minutes of unseating Pat Riggin (Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 1984), whose franchise mark of 203 minutes and 52 seconds continues to stand after more than four decades.
“[Caps coach Spencer Carbery] told me before practice,” says Thompson of the League honor. “It’s always exciting and I guess good to get those. But again, it’s a credit to the guys. I think we’ve been playing great hockey as of late, and they’ve made my life easy.”
When they came out of the NHL’s annual holiday break a few weeks ago, the Caps were looking at a stretch of 21 midseason games between that late December break and their next break, for the Four Nations tournament in mid-February. As they get set to start this marathon road trip in Edmonton, the Caps find themselves a dozen games into that 21-game stretch, and they have a solid 8-1-3 record just past the halfway mark.
“Results-wise, it’s been fantastic to get as many points as we have through this stretch,” says Carbery. “It’s sort of – as I described it – the second third of the season. I think we’ve got maybe nine [games] left until the Four Nations, and then we can take a breather. But we’ve set ourselves up. We’ve put ourselves in a good spot, from a results standpoint, and now we’re looking to finish that.
“And we’re going to get challenged. This is a really difficult road trip, playing against some excellent teams in some hostile environments. We can’t control some line changes, so we’re going to have to work our way through that. I like where this [trip] comes in the schedule, as it sort of takes us into the Four Nations, to play these five games on the road, and then we’ll finish with the last four.”
The challenges that Carbery mentioned begin on Tuesday against the Oilers, a team that came within a game of winning the Stanley Cup last spring, and one that handed Washington a pair of drubbings along the way. The Caps fell 5-0 to Edmonton on Black Friday (Nov. 24, 2023) of last season and absorbed a 7-2 thumping here last March 13.
As they get set to tangle with the Oilers in Edmonton in the trip opener, the Caps have rolled up a strong 18-4-4 record in their last 26 games, a record exceeded only by Edmonton’s 19-5-1 mark in its last 25 games.
“It’s a great, great test for our group,” says Carbery. “And I’m excited, because anytime you play against one of the Stanley Cup finalists, the team that has the record that they have and the players that they have, the success that they have had last year and this year, it’s a great test. And in these moments, you’d love to see our guys and our team compete in these moments and see what it looks like. As a coach, I’m looking forward to it.”
While the Caps open their longest road trip of the season, the Oilers are commencing their longest homestand of the campaign, a six-game run at Rogers Place that takes them into February; their next road game is Feb. 4 in St. Louis.
Edmonton is 8-2-0 in its last 10 games, with a pair of four-game winning streaks interrupted by road losses, one in Pittsburgh on Jan. 9 and the other this past Saturday night in Vancouver when the Oilers came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision against the Canucks.
In that Saturday loss in Vancouver, Oilers captain Connor McDavid mixed it up with Canucks winger Conor Garland late in the third period, engaging in a protracted battle before crosschecking Garland’s head. Following Monday’s practice, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety conducted a hearing with McDavid, and it subsequently announced a three-game suspension for his crosscheck to Garland’s head. McDavid will miss the first three games of Edmonton’s six-game homestand, including Tuesday’s opener against Washington.
Over the weekend, the Oilers signed veteran defenseman John Klingberg to a one-year contract. Klingberg has been rehabbing from hip resurfacing surgery, and he participated in the Oilers’ practice on Monday. Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch cautioned that Klingberg will need a week or so of work before he is ready to jump into the Oilers’ lineup, but also noted that the team is hopeful of having him game-ready before the Four Nations tournament break next month.
The 32-year-old defenseman had his best seasons in Dallas, and he was limited to just 14 games last season with Toronto. He last played NHL hockey more than a year ago, on Nov. 11, 2023.
“I feel incredible,” says Klingberg. “I have way more motion, and not any pain anymore, which is exciting, I feel great and I’m very happy to be here now.”
