Coming off a four-game homestand, the Washington Capitals (5-2-0) are on the road for the first time in nearly two weeks. They will visit Columbus to face the Blue Jackets (3-3-0) at Nationwide Arena on Friday night.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
The Capitals went a successful 3-1 in their four-game homestand. Now they begin a set of back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. The team returns home on Saturday night when they host the Ottawa Senators.
Washington will be down a blueliner as Rasmus Sandin is dealing with an upper-body injury. As a result, he did not travel with the team to Columbus. “He should be okay,” said head coach Spencer Carbery.
Pierre-Luc Dubois will miss his fifth straight contest, even though he did travel with the Capitals. Dubois missed all four games in the homestand and last played on Oct. 12 in New York against the Rangers.
In Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken, Ryan Leonard ended up scoring the game-winning goal. The 20-year-old became the youngest Washington rookie to score in consecutive games since Nicklas Backstrom (20 years, 103 days) on March 3-5, 2025.
The Capitals and Blue Jackets met twice in the preseason, with Washington taking both exhibition contests.
Meanwhile, Columbus has plenty of young up-and-comers and key veterans, as they have split their first six games of the season. In two of the Blue Jackets’ victories, they put up seven goals against Minnesota and five against Dallas.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Anthony Beauvillier
Hendrix Lapierre – Connor McMichael – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Ethen Frank
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Blue Jackets Lines
Forwards
Dmitri Voronkov – Sean Monahan – Kirill Marchenko
Boone Jenner – Adam Fantilli – Kent Johnson
Cole Sillinger – Charlie Coyle – Mathieu Olivier
Zachary Aston-Reese – Isac Lundestrom – Yegor Chinakhov
Defensemen
Zach Werenski – Denton Mateychuk
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Dante Fabbro – Erik Gudbranson
Goalie
Jet Greaves
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network 2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Capitals Radio Network
