\n<\/p>\n
So far, so good. The Caps have taken two of the first three games of this rugged four-game stretch heading into today\u2019s game in Ottawa against the Senators, which is the first of 16 contests they\u2019ll play in a busy month of January.<\/p>\n
Facing the rested Senators on the second of back-to-back matinees is not going to be a picnic, as the Caps should recall from their first meeting with Ottawa this season. In that Oct. 25 game in Washington, the Caps were playing for the second time in as many nights \u2013 they were on the road in Columbus the night before \u2013 while the Sens played and won in Philly two nights earlier, and they were in DC resting up long before the Caps were back in town.<\/p>\n
The result was a 7-1 drubbing for Washington in one of the very few games in the first half of 2025-26 in which the Caps weren\u2019t competitive.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s win over the Rangers, the Caps hopped out to a strong start and never trailed in a 6-3 triumph. They\u2019ll need a strong start again today, but it\u2019s going to take more than that to get two points against an Ottawa team that is seeking to climb its way out of the Atlantic Division basement. Although they\u2019re last in the Atlantic, the Sens are also a mere five points south of the playoff cutline, and with half a season still stretched out in front of them.<\/p>\n
Just under two weeks ago, the Caps played a pair of back-to-back afternoon games, albeit against the same opponent, Detroit. They weren\u2019t pleased with the way they played in a 5-2 loss in the opener at home, but they were better the next day in a 3-2 overtime loss in the Motor City. The Caps went to school on that weekend set against the Wings before undertaking this current set of midweek back-to-back matinees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about it going back to the start of the Detroit home-and-home, where I thoufht our game in Detroit was excellent, and our game at home to start that wasn\u2019t great,\u201d says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. \u201cWe wanted to make sure that we were ready to go yesterday, so we talked about it, and I thought our guys did an excellent job. I thought our skating was there, our pace was there, our execution with the puck and predictability with what we were doing as a group was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really liked the start to our game, and then we build a lead and get a little bit off track. But the start was without a doubt there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just prior to the holiday break, the Sens had a four-game winning streak that was halted in a 3-2 overtime loss to white hot Buffalo on Dec. 23, in the final game before the holiday break. That was also the last game Linus Ullmark played in the Ottawa crease before taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. The Sens have dropped a pair of games \u2013 at Toronto and in the first game of a four-game homestand to Columbus \u2013 coming out of the break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the biggest key for me is they’re a very big, hard, heavy team,\u201d says Carbery of the Senators. \u201cThey score a lot at the net front, even with their skill guys, and then they do a real good job of defending that area \u2013 conversely \u2013 defensively. So, they make it difficult on you to get to the most valuable areas on the ice, or the most valuable area offensively for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then defensively for us, they get there, and they work to create from there. And I think for today especially, last night I just thought we did a poor job at certain moments in that game of managing the puck or making sure that we didn’t fuel [the Rangers\u2019] transition. All of a sudden, we have a huge hiccup, and now [Artemi] Panarin is walking in, or they’re going in on a 2-on-1, where we had a rush. And if we do that today, that’s going to be problematic.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust on the back half of a back-to-back, playing against a real good Ottawa team that I feel like their record isn’t indicative of how good of a hockey team this is; they\u2019ve been a little bit unfortunate with where they sit in the standings and what their record is. And then you’re also going to get a very \u2013 let’s call it grumpy \u2013 Ottawa team here at home [after] practice a couple days.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we’re going to need to be on our toes, and the start will be key, and then also not fueling or giving them anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the sound of things, the Caps are likely to make a lineup alteration or two for today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will,\u201d says Carbery, asked whether the Caps will have lineup changes. \u201cAnd we\u2019re working through a couple of things, so it will be game time [decisions].\u201d<\/p>\n
In The Nets \u2013<\/strong> One day after Charlie Lindgren turned in a solid performance against the Rangers to nail down his sixth victory of the season, Logan Thompson is back between the pipes today for Washington, a day after learning he would be one of the three goaltenders on Team Canada\u2019s Olympic roster.<\/p>\n Thompson\u2019s fellow Canadian Olympian Tom Wilson had a game for the ages yesterday after learning he was an Olympian early that morning; Wilson had two goals, a Gordie Howe hat trick, and a remarkable shift midway through the second period in which he delivered a massive hit and scored on the same shift in what was a 1-1 game. A shift later, he fought Sam Carrick and drew a minor penalty in the process. When Justin Sourdif scored on the ensuing power play, Wilson had helped the Caps to their first multi-goal lead in almost two weeks.<\/p>\n Today, in a back-to-back situation against a rested opponent, the Caps could use a lift from Thompson, who has had a terrific first half.<\/p>\n Lifetime against the Senators, Thompson is 5-0-1 in six appearances (five starts) with a shutout, a 2.30 GAA and a .931 save pct.<\/p>\n Ullmark started 28 of Ottawa\u2019s first 36 games, and going into the holiday break, only New York\u2019s Igor Shesterkin and Utah\u2019s Karel Vejmelka had logged more minutes in the crease this season, so his absence is noteworthy, even though he wasn\u2019t playing his best in the first half.<\/p>\n With Ullmark out of the picture for a bit, Leevi Merilainen has started each of Ottawa\u2019s first two games since the break, dropping both. Merilainen \u2013 Ottawa\u2019s third-round choice (71st overall) in the 202 NHL Draft \u2013 is 4-7-0 in 11 appearances (10 starts) on the season, with a 3.51 GAA and an .869 save pct. this season, but he was sharp in a similar amount of playing time (12 appearances, 11 starts) last season, going 8-3-1 with three shutouts, a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save pct.<\/p>\n In his lone career start against the Caps \u2013 just under a year ago, here in Ottawa \u2013 Merilainen was a hard luck loser in a 1-0 overtime decision. Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored the only goal of the game in overtime, setting the NHL record for most different goaltenders scored against in the process. Merilainen stopped 25 of 26 shots in that game; he has a 0.95 GAA and a .962 save pct. in his brief career against the Caps.<\/p>\n All Down The Line \u2013<\/strong> Here\u2019s how the Capitals and Senators might look on Thursday afternoon in Ottawa:<\/p>\n WASHINGTON<\/strong><\/p>\n Forwards<\/strong><\/p>\n 21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin<\/p>\n 24-McMichael, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson<\/p>\n 72-Beauvillier 26-Dowd, 9-Leonard<\/p>\n 22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank<\/p>\n Defensemen<\/strong><\/p>\n 42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson<\/p>\n 6-Chychrun, 3-Roy<\/p>\n 38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk<\/p>\n Goaltenders<\/strong><\/p>\n 79-Lindgren<\/p>\n 48-Thompson<\/p>\n Healthy Extras<\/strong><\/p>\n 15-Milano<\/p>\n 47-Chisholm<\/p>\n 52-McIlrath<\/p>\n Injured\/Out<\/strong><\/p>\n 80-Dubois (lower body)<\/p>\n OTTAWA<\/strong><\/p>\n Forwards<\/strong><\/p>\n 7-Tkachuk, 18-St\u00fctzle, 20-Zetterlund<\/p>\n 57-Perron, 24-Cozens, 19-Batherson<\/p>\n 22-Amadio, 12-Pinto, 28-Giroux<\/p>\n 23-MacDermid, 71-Grieg, 21-Cousins<\/p>\n Defensemen<\/strong><\/p>\n 85-Sanderson, 2-Zub<\/p>\n 72-Chabot, 10-Spence<\/p>\n 43-Kleven, 33-Matinpalo<\/p>\n Goalies<\/strong><\/p>\n 1-Merilainen<\/p>\n 31-Shepard<\/p>\n Healthy Extras<\/strong><\/p>\n 3-Jensen<\/p>\n 83-Halliday<\/p>\n Injured\/Out<\/strong><\/p>\n 35-Ullmark (personal leave)<\/p>\n 89-Eller (foot)\n <\/p><\/div>\n New Years Day \u2013 On the first afternoon of 2026, the Caps conclude a mini-marathon of four games inside a span of about 115 hours, with travel involved for all four. Playing that many games in that tight of a span under \u201cnormal\u201d circumstances would be difficult enough, but the four-game gauntlet was immediately preceded … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SKATE-SHAVINGS-News-and-Notes-from-Caps-Morning-Skate.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15418,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416\/revisions\/15418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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