The Washington Capitals finish their three-game homestand on Saturday night. They will host the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
These two teams have already met twice in the Sunshine State this season, but Florida prevailed both times.
The Capitals will hold their annual Pride Night before their next long road trip. Unfortunately, neither Shane Hollander nor Ilya Rozanov will be taking the ice.
The Capitals split the first two games of the homestand. The team rallied to beat Montreal 3-2 on Tuesday, but fell to San Jose 3-2 on Thursday.
In Thursday’s game, Dylan Strome scored on the power play to put the Capitals up 1-0 in the middle frame. However, San Jose went on to record three unanswered goals in less than three minutes.
The Capitals were once again without Tom Wilson (lower body), Justin Sourdif (upper body), and Jakob Chychrun (illness). Most recently, Sourdif was placed on injured reserve.
The Capitals have still yet to win consecutive games since early December, and their ongoing struggles continue in the new year. The team is 3-4-1 in eight games in 2026, and 5-5-1 at the midway point of 22 games in 41 nights.
Injuries and inconsistency have been two big factors why the Capitals have been struggling. They can play a good period or half a period, but not the whole 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, Florida will finish their six-game road trip in D.C. on Saturday. After splitting the first two games (2-2-0), the team got crushed 9-1 by Carolina on Friday.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Ethen Frank
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Anthony Beauvillier
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Hendrix Lapierre – Brett Leason
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Panthers Lines
Forwards
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – A.J. Greer
Sandis Vilmanis – Evan Rodrigues – Mackie Samoskevitch
Jesper Boqvist – Cole Schwindt – Luke Kunin
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Uvis Balinskis
Donovan Sebrango – Jeff Petry
Goalie
Daniil Tarasov
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
