The Washington Capitals returned for practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday, looking to refind their conditioning after a 10-day break for the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
Head coach Spencer Carbery reinstated most of his lines and pairings from the team’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Utah Hockey Club two Sundays ago. The lone change comes within the club’s bottom-six forward group as Taylor Raddysh has been moved back down to the fourth line, and Andrew Mangiapane has risen to the third line.
Lines
Extras: Sonny Milano, Jakub Vrana
The changes come after the Capitals’ fourth line, which produced strong results early in the season with Raddysh on one of the wings, has been buried at five-on-five in their last 10 games. With the trio of Mangiapane, Nic Dowd, and Brandon Duhaime on the ice during those games, Washington saw just 40.8 percent of the shot attempts, 26.6 percent of the expected goals, 34.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 22.9 percent of the high-danger chances.
After scoring six goals in his first 24 games with the Capitals, Mangiapane has just five goals in his last 30 games. He has just five total points (3g, 2a) since the beginning of 2025. He’ll now be paired with an Ethen Frank and Lars Eller combination that is one of Washington’s best since Frank was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears in early January.
With the two on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals have outscored their opposition 6-3 and have seen 56.1 percent of the expected goals and 59.8 percent of the high-danger chances. Since Frank was recalled, Eller ranks second among all Washington forwards in expected goals per 60 minutes (0.85). Frank ranks sixth (0.69) among all forwards.
In the top six, Alex Ovechkin will begin his journey to scoring the last 16 goals he needs to top Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark (894) with Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson. Carbery hasn’t gone to the combination much this season, with 59:07 of their 62:45 joint five-on-five ice time this year all coming within the team’s last seven games.
Ovechkin hit a hot streak within that set of games, recording nine points (4g, 5a) in his last five games before the break. Wilson and Strome also combined for 14 points (7g, 7a) in those five games.
On defense, Carbery is sticking with a top pair of Rasmus Sandin and John Carlson that has been ultra-successful when deployed this season. With the two on the ice in 326:43 of five-on-five ice time, the Capitals have seen 52.7 percent of the shot attempts, 55.8 percent of the expected goals, 52.6 percent of the scoring chances, and 55.1 percent of the high-danger chances.
The Capitals’ first game post-break comes against their rival Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday afternoon. The tilt is Washington’s last road game until March 5 in New York against the Rangers.
Washington is 1-1 against Pittsburgh this season, winning the last meeting 4-1 on home ice. The Penguins had lost six of their last 10 games coming into the break.
The Capitals will begin the stretch run leading the Eastern Conference with a 36-11-8 record. They have 27 games remaining on their schedule.
