The Washington Capitals (22-16-6) hit the road for the next two games. They will face the Chicago Blackhawks (18-18-7) at United Center on Friday night.
The puck drops at 8:00 p.m. ET.
After a three-game homestand, the Capitals will visit Chicago and Nashville for two road games that are the team’s 2025-26 Mentors’ Trip.
This is the second meeting between the two teams within the past week. Chicago took the previous matchup 3-2 in a shootout in D.C. on Jan. 3.
That game was the first of the Capitals’ three-game homestand, where they won only the second game. The team scored seven goals to beat Anaheim 7-4 on Jan. 5.
The Capitals finished the homestand with a whimper as they fell to Dallas 4-1 on Wednesday. The team was unable to really get much going as they trailed 3-0 in the third period.
The only Capitals tally came late in the game when Alex Ovechkin recorded his 915th career goal.
Thankfully, Aliaksei Protas was activated off the IR and is expected to return for Friday’s game. Tom Wilson was then moved to the IR, but has been progressing after missing action.
Meanwhile, Chicago is currently on a four-game winning streak. They were able to string together victories for the first time since Nov. 15-18 when they beat the Capitals nearly a week ago.
More importantly, Connor Bedard is expected to make his big return for Chicago on Friday night. The 2023 No. 1 pick had missed the previous 12 games with an upper-body injury.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Connor McMichael – Nic Dowd – Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime – Hendrix Lapierre – Sonny Milano
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Blackhawks Lines
Forwards
Connor Bedard – Ryan Greene – Andre Burakovsky
Ryan Donato – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Teuvo Teraveinen – Oliver Moore – Nick Lardis
Tyler Bertuzzi – Colton Dach – Nick Foligno
Defensemen
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Goalie
Spencer Knight
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
