The Washington Capitals (21-15-5) begin the second half of the 2025-26 season with a three-game homestand. They will host the Chicago Blackhawks (15-18-7) at Capital One Arena on Saturday night.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
This is the first meeting between the two teams this season, as they will meet once again in Chicago on Friday, Jan. 9.
The Capitals return home after opening the New Year with a 4-3 loss in Ottawa. The team led 2-0 after the first period, but couldn’t sustain the lead the rest of the way. This was the back-end of a matinee back-to-back as the Capitals had beaten the Rangers 6-3 at home on New Year’s Eve.
The Capitals once again failed to string together wins, which they haven’t done since early December. The team had won six straight games at the time.
Since that six-game winning streak, the Capitals have slid in the Eastern Conference standings, going 4-6-3 in their last 13 games.
Meanwhile, Chicago was looking strong through mid-November with a record of 10-5-4. However, the team has gone 5-13-3 in 16 games since, as they last won back-to-back games on Nov. 15-18. Only Winnipeg (3-13-4) has a worse record over that span.
Chicago has also been without Connor Bedard (shoulder) and Frank Nazar (upper body), two top-six forwards and recent first-rounders. Bedard has been out the last nine games, while Nazar has missed the last five.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMIchael – Justin Sourdif – Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier – Nic Dowd – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – Hendrix Lapierre – Ethen Frank
Defensemen
Rasmus Sandin – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Martin Fehervary – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Blackhawks Lines
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Ryan Greene – Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen – Oliver Moore – Nick Lardis
Ryan Donato – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach – Nick Foligno – Landon Slaggert
Defensemen
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Keiser – Artyom Levshuov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Goalie
Spencer Knight
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
