Capitals at Maple Leafs: Lines, Notes, & How to Watch

The Washington Capitals head to Canada for the final time in the 2025-26 season. They take their lone trip to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Wednesday’s game is also the final time the Capitals face an Atlantic Division foe this season. It’s also the middle match of three straight road games for Washington.

The Capitals’ first road game was a complete dud as they fell to the New York Rangers 8-1 on Sunday night. After Toronto, Washington will head to Pittsburgh on Saturday and then host the Penguins on Sunday.

On Monday, the Capitals recalled 19-year-old forward Ilya Protas from AHL Hershey. The younger brother of Aliaksei Protas will make his NHL debut on Wednesday night.

Protas had been leading the Bears in scoring with 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) in 66 games played. The 19-year-old ranks second among AHL rookies in goals and third in assists.

Ilya is expected to center a line with his brother Aliaksei and Tom Wilson. This marks the fourth time in franchise history where the Capitals had two brothers take the ice together.

Meanwhile, Toronto had made the playoffs nine consecutive years. However, this season is a different story, as the Maple Leafs are at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with Florida.

Toronto couldn’t assemble a winning streak of as many as four games until early January of this season. It also didn’t help that star Auston Matthews suffered a season-ending knee injury on March 12.

Expected Capitals Lines

Forwards

Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Connor McMichael

Aliaksei Protas – Ilya Protas – Tom Wilson

Anthony Beauvillier – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Ryan Leonard

Brandon Duhaime – Hendrix Lapierre – Justin Sourdif

Defensemen

Martin Fehervary – Rasmus Sandin

Jakob Chychrun – Trevor van Riemsdyk

Cole Hutson – Matt Roy

Goalies

Logan Thompson

Charlie Lindgren

Expected Maple Leafs Lines

Forwards

Easton Cowan – John Tavares – William Nylander

Dakota Joshua – Max Domi – Nicholas Robertson

Matthew Knies – Bo Groulx – Matias Macceli

Michael Pezzetta – Jacob Quillan – Steven Lorentz

Defensemen

Morgan Rielly – Philippe Myers

Jake McCabe – Brandon Carlo

Simon Benoit – Troy Stecher

Goalies

Joseph Woll

Anthony Stolarz

How to Watch

TV: Monumental Sports Network

Radio: Team 980, 106.7 The Fan [JIP]/Caps Radio Network

By Harry Lichtman

Harry Lichtman is an award-winning journalist who covers the Washington Capitals for Sportsnaut. He also contributes to the sites ... More about Harry Lichtman