Black Friday – If it’s Black Friday, the Caps are playing at home, and with a “discounted” starting time of 5 pm, so step right up. Tonight’s tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs is Washington’s final home game of November, and it ends a stretch in which the Caps have played seven of their last eight games at Capital One Arena.
With a 5-1-1 record in their last seven games and a 5-1-1 mark in their seven homes games to date this month, the Caps are looking to finish this stretch on a high note before they take to the road for a week, and for the next four games. The Caps depart tomorrow for a rugged trip in which they’ll play Sunday afternoon on Long Island, fly cross country to Los Angeles immediately afterwards, play three games in four nights in the Golden State, and head straight back home next Saturday for a Sunday home date with Columbus. Whew.
But first things first, and that’s today’s game with the Leafs, who got a lot healthier for the opener of their own five game road run on Wednesday in Columbus. With Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Nicolas Roy all coming off injured reserve for that game, the Leafs won a 2-1 overtime decision from the Jackets, thanks to Willie Nylander’s 15th career overtime game-winner, the most in Toronto’s franchise history.
Wednesday’s victory was just the second in eight road games (2-6-0) for the Leafs, who played 15 of their first 22 games of the season on home ice. After going 5-5-1 in October, Toronto is 5-5-2 in November with two games remaining on the slate this month; the Leafs finish a set of back-to-back games
“I think it’s hard to evaluate [the Leafs] just based on injuries,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery, a former Toronto assistant coach. “It’s Auston, and Matty Knies, even [defenseman] Brandon Carlo for that matter, and [goaltender Anthony] Stolarz.
“But with those guys coming back in the lineup – especially [Matthews] and Knies – those guys are big time players. It almost gives them a full other line that you have to be extremely aware of, that can do a bunch of damage and is a top line in the League.”
In The Middle Of It All – Despite playing their last five games without centers P-L Dubois and Nic Dowd – their top two defensive pivots – the Caps have won four of those five games. The emergence of rookie Justin Sourdif has been a factor in that success, and in Wednesday’ 4-3 win over Winnipeg, Connor McMichael helped the Caps earn a pair of points with, to these eyes anyway, one of the best games he has played at the position.
“I think so too,” says McMichael. “It definitely was one of my better games of the year at that. I think I was able to use my speed through the middle, and I think that’s something that Carbs has been one been wanting me to show a lot more, is kind of carrying the mail through the middle of the ice, and utilizing my speed. And I thought I was able to do that a bunch.
“And another thing that I thought was good was face-offs. I think I was going up against [Jonathan] Toews most of the night, and he’s a really good face-off guy. And I was able to win majority of them, which I thought was real nice. And I just find when I’m playing center and I focus on defensive stuff first, the offensive stuff kind of falls into place. And I felt that’s exactly how it went.”
That’s exactly how it went, and exactly how McMichael managed to score what proved to be the game-winning goal early in the third period. Sensing that Jets blueliner Elias Salomonsson – who was playing in his first NHL game – didn’t have a firm handle on wobbling puck near the Winnipeg line, McMichael stripped him and used his speed to barrel in alone on Jets goaltender Eric Comrie. A deke and backhander later, the Caps had a 4-2 lead.
Game-winning goal notwithstanding, McMichael was solid in all three zones, his speed was noticeable, and as he noted, he came out ahead on the dots, winning nine of 16 draws (56 percent). He also logged 21:04 in ice time, less than a minute shy of his single-game career best, established almost a year earlier to the day.
Notably, Carbery also thought it was a solid outing for McMichael.
“I thought last game [Monday vs. Columbus] he had good jump,” says Carbery. “He was just sort of forcing some plays and trying to beat guys when he had them in vulnerable spots, and he wasn’t able to make the play. But tonight, I thought he was good. I would agree with that, and that’s a huge goal, not only in the moment in the game to get us back up by two, but just for him in general, to finish in that situation on a breakaway – him and the goaltender – was a great goal for him and massive goal in the hockey game.”
Last season, the trio of Dubois, Dowd and Lars Eller – who is now with Ottawa – combined to take 1,394 of Washington’s total of 1,661 defensive zone face-offs on the season, representing 84 percent of the Caps’ total. This season, Dowd and Dubois have taken just 41.43 percent of the team’s defensive zone draws to date, with McMichael’s total of 104 ranking second on the team behind Dowd’s 149.
Playing mostly on the wing last season, McMichael split 30 defensive zone draws, winning 15. This season, he has slipped to 43.3 percent on those draws. With some video work, some conversations with Dowd and Dylan Strome, and some after practice work, McMichael will be able to improve in that regard. Consistently displaying his speed while playing in the middle of the ice is another priority.
“Sometimes I feel like when I was playing wing, I would get I would get pucks in more offensive spots,” says McMichael. “And I feel like when I’m playing the middle of the ice, I’m a lot lower in our defensive zone, so it’s hard to just beat everyone with your speed from that low in the in the zone, and carry it the whole way up the ice.
“For me, it’s just getting used to my routes again. I think finding little pockets, and I think Stromer is really good at that – finding pockets higher up in the zone – and being able to find little pockets like that is something that I really want to work on. And I think when I do that, I’ll be able to use my speed a little bit more, I’ll be able to get pucks above their low forward and kind of dictate the play like that.”
McMichael started the season playing in the middle, but his offensive game didn’t pop like it did last season when he established career highs with 26 goals, 31 assists and 57 points. Around the middle of this month, Carbery moved him back to the wing. But with Dowd out for the last five games and Dubois out since Halloween night – and expected to be out past the turn of the calendar – McMichael is back in the middle.
His offensive game saw an uptick when he was moved to the wing, but he has stayed productive since moving back to the middle. Overall, he has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last seven games, after starting out with four points (one goal, three assists) in his first 16 games.
Dubois had such a stellar season in 2024-25, neutralizing an opponent’s top line on a nightly basis while helping to produce nearly a goal a game at even strength in the process. Players like that are rare, and Carbery has said it will take a committee to get it done. With McMichael and Sourdif handling the lion’s share of those duties for the time being, the Caps have so far been successful at mitigating the absences of those two veteran centers.
“I think Sords has done a lot of heavy lifting since Dubie been out,” says McMichael. “It’s been really fun to watch what he’s been doing, shutting down their other teams top lines and also producing offensively as well. It’s been super impressive.
“And yeah, for me, I want to be doing the same thing, although my line’s not up against their top line. I still want to be able to be a guy that they rely on for PK defensive zone draws, and I thought I’ve done a pretty good job so far, but I think I still have a lot of room to improve. And it’s hard to replace a guy like Dubie, who’s getting Selke votes. It’s been a tough task, but I think Sords has done a really good job of it.”
While playing left wing last season, McMIchael logged a lot of time on the portside of the Dubois line, so he picked up a thing or two about playing in the middle across those 82 games.
“Even last year, when I was playing wing, Dubie helped my offensive game a lot,” says McMichael. “He gave me a lot of good tips. And I think he’s such a smart player that he was giving me a lot of different reads that I would never thought of before, and now this year, playing up the middle, it’s definitely been helping me, and I look back to all the stuff that Dubie did so well last year, and I’ve been trying to implement that in my game.”
In The Nets – Two nights after Charlie Lindgren nailed down his third consecutive victory in a 4-3 triumph over the Jets, Logan Thompson is back between the pipes for the Capitals against Toronto, aiming for his 10th win of the season.
With 40 wins since the start of last season, Thompson ranks fifth among all NHL goaltenders over that span. This season, his .897 high danger save pct. at 5-on-5 ranks second in the NHL, according to Natural Stat Trick. Lifetime against the Maple Leafs, Thompson is 3-1-1 in five appearances (four starts), with a 2.89 GAA and a .905 save pct.
Joseph Woll is the starter for Toronto this afternoon. After winning a career-high 27 games last season, Woll opened this season on injured reserve with a lower body injury. He made his season’s debut on Nov. 15 in Chicago, four days after Anthony Stolarz was sidelined with an upper body injury. In five starts since coming off IR, Woll is 2-2-1 in five appearances with a 2.74 GAA and a .921 save pct.
Tonight, he makes his sixth straight starts since coming off IR. Lifetime against Washington, Woll is a perfect 4-0-0 in four appearances – all starts – with a 1.98 GAA and a .927 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Capitals and the Leafs might look on Friday afternoon in DC:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
72-Beauvillier, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson
22-Duhaime, 24-McMichael, 9-Leonard
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
87-Trineyev
Injured/Out
26-Dowd (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
TORONTO
Forwards
23-Knies, 34-Matthews, 11-Domi
53-Cowan, 91-Tavares, 88-Nylander
89-Robertson, 55-Roy, 74-McMann
18-Lorentz, 24-Laughton, 19-Jarnkrok
Defensemen
44-Rielly, 95-Ekman-Larsson
2-Benoit, 22-McCabe
36-Mermis, 28-Stecher
Goalies
60-Woll
35-Hildeby
Healthy Extras
51-Myers
63-Maccelli
81-Joshua
Injured/Out
8-Tanev (upper body)
25-Carlo (lower body)
41-Stolarz (upper body)
