Tonight’s the night. The Washington Capitals (0-0-0) begin their 82-game journey to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They will host the Boston Bruins (0-0-0) at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
The Capitals are coming off a remarkable 2024-25 season. They celebrated their 50th anniversary and went 55-22-9, finishing first in the Eastern Conference.
Washington captain Alex Ovechkin is now in his 21st season after making some history last season. This past April, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky for the most career goals in NHL history. Now at 897 goals, he needs three more to be the first NHL player to record 900 goals. Not to mention he just turned 40, and tonight’s contest is two days past the 20th anniversary of his first game.
Spencer Carbery enters his third season as the Capitals’ head coach. His very successful 2024-25 season resulted in him winning the Jack Adams Award.
Washington went 5-1 in the 2025-26 NHL preseason, showing the organization has a lot of depth pieces. Hendrix Lapierre and Sonny Milano were two players trying to make comebacks. They both impressed as Lapierre will appear in tonight’s lineup on the third line.
Meanwhile, the Bruins are coming off a very unsuccessful 2024-25 campaign. They finished 33-39-10 and fired head coach Jim Montgomery one month into the season.
Boston’s new man in charge is Marco Sturm, who previously played for the franchise from 2005-2010. He was traded to the Bruins from the San Jose Sharks for All-Star center Joe Thornton.
Boston enters the season without a designated captain, as alternates David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy will share leadership responsibilities.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Aliaksei Protas-Dylan Strome-Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Hendrix Lapierre-Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Justin Sourdif
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Rasmus Sandin-Matt Roy
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Bruins Lines
Forwards
Morgan Geekie-Elias Lindholm-David Pastrnak
Marat Khusnudinov-Pavel Zacha-Casey Mittlestadt
Sean Kuraly-Viktor Arvidsson-Fraser Minten
Tanner Jeannot-Johnny Beecher-Mark Kastelic
Defensemen
Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Andrew Peeke
Nikita Zadorov-Henri Jokiharju
Goalie
Jeremy Swayman
How to Watch
TV: TNT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
