Caps Journey to Texas | Washington Capitals

Oct. 28 vs. Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena

Time: 8:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network

Washington Capitals (6-3-0)
Dallas Stars (3-3-1)

The Caps take to the street once more for the ultimate time in October, venturing outdoors the Eastern Time Zone for the primary time this season once they face the Stars in Dallas on Tuesday evening. Washington has received three straight street video games on the outset of the season for the primary time since 2015-16, when it received every of its first 4 video games on the street.

Tuesday evening in Dallas, the Caps will purpose to match that feat in a constructing and a metropolis that has historically been a tricky setting for them; the Capitals are 7-15-2 all-time in Texas, for the reason that Stars moved south from Minnesota for the 1993-94 season. And the Caps search to increase that streak with out two of their key gamers, each of whom performed in all 82 video games for Washington final season.

Defenseman Rasmus Sandin missed Washington’s weekend set of back-to-back video games with an higher physique damage. When the Caps performed their Monday morning follow previous to their departure for the Lone Star State, Sandin was in a child blue non-contact sweater. He received’t make the journey to Dallas.

Also staying behind in DC is middle Dylan Strome, who left Saturday’s sport with Ottawa after struggling a decrease physique damage when he grew to become entangled with teammate Jakob Chychrun behind the Senators’ web.

Strome’s damage occurred early within the first interval of Saturday’s sport with the Sens. After being helped off the ice, he got here again halfway by means of the preliminary body, taking a couple of tentative twirls across the ice throughout a tv timeout. He took one full shift (57 seconds) and one transient one (eight seconds) earlier than retiring for the night.

Since becoming a member of the Capitals in 2022-23, Strome has missed only one sport; he was a wholesome scratch halfway by means of his first season with Washington, shortly after each Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson got here off injured reserve concurrently on the midpoint of that marketing campaign. Both Backstrom and Wilson had missed the entrance half of the season whereas rehabbing from offseason surgical procedures.

Caps coach Spencer Carbery is heartened by the truth that Strome was in a position to come again on the ice and attempt to play after initially struggling the damage. Carbery termed Strome as “day-to-day.”

“You’re always concerned when someone goes into the boards,” says Carbery. “I assume it wasn’t actually a collision, however going into the boards awkwardly, you’re at all times somewhat bit involved. But him coming again out to strive it, I might say I used to be then optimistic. Because if he doesn’t come again in any respect, which means it’s fairly vital.

“So him coming back to try it and going through a shift after that I would say made me feel a little bit more positive about where he was at.”

With Strome out of the image for at the very least the Dallas sport, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin is with out his most frequent middle for the final three-plus seasons as he seeks the objective that may make him the NHL’s first 900-goal scorer ever.

Since Strome’s arrival in Washington in 2022-23, Ovechkin has logged just below 3,300 minutes at even energy, and 57.7 % of that point has been spent with Strome on his line. Across a a lot smaller pattern measurement of simply 114:14 Ovechkin has performed at evens by means of the season’s first 9 video games, that share of the ice at even energy with Strome is considerably bigger, at 80.5 %.

Connor McMichael has performed a good quantity with Ovechkin over time, however not a lot from the center of the ice. Typically, when the 2 have been on a line collectively, they’ve occupied the wings of the road. Playing with the sport’s all-time goal-scoring chief is a singular scenario. At Monday’s follow, McMichael manned the center of a line with Ovechkin and Ryan Leonard.

“It is different,” says Carbery. “And so there are, and I wouldn’t essentially characterize them as challenges; I might characterize them as nuances and variations which are similar to enjoying with every other winger. But [Ovechkin] has some tendencies that you just want to pay attention to, [such as] the place he likes pucks, the place he’s going to be on the ice, and communication type and all that type of stuff.

“Mikey has played with him enough for us to feel comfortable. If you remember, he played quite a bit with him last year; he was playing on the wing, not in the middle, so it changes it a little bit.”

Over the primary 9 video games of the season, McMichael and Ovechkin have shared the ice for just below 27 minutes at even energy. Across the earlier three seasons – coinciding with Strome’s time in Washington – McMichael and Ovechkin have been on the ice collectively for just below 14 % of Ovechkin’s even energy ice time.

“It’s a little bit different than playing with anyone else,” says McMichael. “He is a singular participant, clearly. He’s one of many best to ever do it, and also you simply need to adapt to the way in which he performs somewhat bit, as a result of you already know he’s going to be ready within the weeds, ready to unleash that one-timer.

“It’s just little things. I think me and Lenny are going to have to work a little cycle game, and you always know that O is going to find ways of getting open. I think it’s more so just running little plays with each other and then looking for a shot. And if it’s not there, then you know O is open somewhere. And honestly, just talking with Stromer over the years and all that fun stuff, he says you can’t change how you play too much. It’s just little, tiny details.”

Washington made a pair of transactions on Monday morning previous to departing for Dallas. Less than 48 hours after loaning him to AHL Hershey, the Caps summoned winger Ethen Frank from that very same membership. Frank performed fairly properly in Washington’s Friday evening win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus, however when P-L Dubois rejoined the Caps’ lineup on Saturday towards Ottawa, Frank was despatched to Hershey.

The Caps additionally introduced that they’ve signed ahead Brett Leason to a one-year, two-way contract that may pay him $775,000 on the NHL degree and $250,000 on the AHL degree. Leason was a second-round draft selection (56th general) of the Capitals within the 2019 NHL Draft, and he spent three seasons within the Washington group, making his NHL debut with the Caps just below 4 years in the past, on Oct. 29, 2021. He scored his first NHL objective three nights later in his second sport, towards the Lightning in Tampa.

Just over three years in the past, Leason was claimed off waivers from Washington by the Anaheim Ducks, and he spent the final three seasons there. Leason has 220 NHL video games underneath his belt, and he has totaled 25 targets, 29 assists and 54 factors together with 54 PIM. The 26-year-old Calgary native provides the Caps one other skilled NHL hand within the group, serving to to mitigate the lack of winger Sheldon Rempal, who opted to return to the KHL after signing with the Capitals final summer time.

Leason was positioned on waivers for the aim of loaning him to AHL Hershey.

Early within the first season of Glen Gulutzan’s second tour of obligation because the Dallas bench boss, the Stars have had some ups and downs. Dallas received three straight video games out of the beginning gate, however adopted by dropping 4 straight (0-3-1), with three of the losses approaching residence ice. The Stars enter Tuesday’s sport – their third in 4 nights – after a sweep of a weekend set of back-to-backs by similar 3-2 scores.

With Jake Oettinger in web on Saturday evening in Dallas, the Stars dug their method out of a 2-0 first-period deficit, downing the Carolina Hurricanes on the energy of Miro Heiskanen’s first two targets of the season. Oettinger made 32 saves to assist the Stars cease a three-game residence skid (0-2-1).

An evening later in Nashville, Dallas authored one other comeback from a 2-0 deficit, with Mikko Rantanen supplying the game-winner on a Stars energy play halfway by means of the third interval. Casey DeSmith picked up his first victory of the season in Sunday’s win over the Predators, making 23 saves