The Carolina Hurricanes are set to face the Washington Capitals for the first time since last year’s second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series that saw the Hurricanes defeat the Capitals in five games to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
The reigning Metropolitan Division champion Caps have not quite positioned themselves well to repeat the feat in the early going of the 2025-26 campaign, as they are 7-7-1. That puts them seventh place in the Metropolitan Division in a tie for the bottom spot with the Blue Jackets. Washington is not in any sort of deep hole, though, due to the massive logjam in the 14-19 point range that all but five teams in the East find themselves in.
Tom Wilson leads the Caps in both goals and points with 9 and 16, respectively, while Dylan Strome is pacing the group with 10 assists. Defensemen John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun have both been highly productive, as they each have surpassed the 10-point mark already.
Logan Thompson has done an excellent job between the pipes for Washington, as he is 6-4-0 with a .930 save percentage and 1.61 goals against average. One would certainly expect him to pick up wins at better than a 60% clip if he keeps playing at that level.
For Carolina’s part, the Canes have done excellently to manage a brutal injury situation to start the year. The ailments continue to pile up, as the team announced today that Charles-Alexis Legault will be sidelined for three to four months as he recovers from hand surgery.
On the positive side of the health ledger, it looks like Shayne Gostisbehere will return to the lineup to take Legault’s spot. He will also likely assume his role as the quarterback of the team’s top power play unit.
Key offseason acquisition Nikolaj Ehlers is starting to find his grove in the red and black, as he enters Tuesday’s game with 9 points in his last 10 games.
According to North State Journal’s Cory Lavalette, Frederik Andersen was in the starter’s crease at the team’s morning skate, which makes sense after Pyotr Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi started the last two games.
Here’s how the team lined up at morning skate according to team reporter Walt Ruff:
Here’s how to check out the action:
Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Streaming: FanDuel Sports App, ESPN+ out of market
Radio: 99.9 The Fan and affiliates
Odds: ML: CAR -162; PL: -1.5 +148
