Epic NHL Action: Boston Bruins Face Off Against Capitals

Time: 7:30 p.m.

TV: MNMT

Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network

Boston Bruins (0-0-0)
Washington Capitals (0-0-0)

Following a consistently excellent 2024-25 season that coincided neatly with the franchise’s 50th anniversary celebration, the Capitals now embark upon their second half century of existence. Virtually every player in the Washington room had a career year by some measure last season, and now they’re seeking to craft a worthy encore, individually and collectively.

The Caps open their 2025-26 regular season schedule at home against the Boston Bruins Wednesday night, the first of their seven home games at Capital One Arena this month.

“It’s exciting,” says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin on the eve of his 21st season in the League, and two days past the 20th anniversary of his NHL debut and his first two career goals. “You work hard all summer to get ready for this moment. Of course it’s going to be an exciting night for us. For me personally, I can’t wait til when it starts. Training camp is good, preseason games are good, but the real deal is coming [Wednesday].”

Last season, the introduction of seven new players went smoothly from the start, and four of those players are now part of the Caps’ future, under contract through the end of the decade at least. Now, with most of the tightly knit group still in their prime seasons, they’re looking to show that last season was no aberration; it’s who they are.

Washington improved by 20 points last season, and it doesn’t have the ceiling available to go north another 20 points this time around. The Caps are aiming to hold serve with the way they played as a group last season, while shoring up some fallow areas of their lineup.

Primarily, they’re seeking a more consistent and reliable performance from what they refer to as their “third line,” which – here in Washington – refers to the forwards who aren’t in the top six or on Nic Dowd’s line, which is – in terms of ice time and responsibility – the Caps’ actual third line.

Over the summer and in camp, consideration was given to moving Connor McMichael from left wing in the top six to the middle of that pesky “third line.” McMichael did play in the middle for much of camp, but Hendrix Lapierre is slated to start the season in the middle of the third line. Lapierre – with a rotating cast of linemates – started the season in that 3C role last October, but none of the combinations clicked, leading to a November trade to reacquire Lars Eller from Pittsburgh to assume that role. Two months later, Lapierre was returned to AHL Hershey for more seasoning midway through the season.

From the first shift of the first preseason game this fall, it was clear that Lapierre was a man on a mission. The 23-year-old is heading into his fourth pro season now, and he is aiming to spend the entirety of it in the NHL for the first time. When the Caps take the ice on Wednesday against Boston in the season opener, Lapierre is expected to center for veteran winger Anthony Beauvillier and prized rookie Ryan Leonard. If this trio can get rolling together, the Caps figure to have a forward group that’s as deep, diverse and accomplished as their defense corps.

In some ways, Lapierre is looking to follow in McMichael’s footsteps. They’re obviously different players, but McMichael’s ascension to the NHL also came in fits and starts, and he broke out as a bona fide top six producer in the League last season. Two years ago at this time, McMichael was coming off a season in which he played six NHL games and was teammates with Lapierre on the first of consecutive AHL Hershey Bears Calder Cup champion teams.

“I think he’s earned that opportunity,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Lapierre. “We envisioned that that hole would potentially be [filled by] Connor McMichael. With the camp that Hendrix has had, with the way that he’s looked, with the maturity level it looks like he’s got, with the determination level that he’s played with through this camp, he’s earned an opportunity to play in that role right now, and to try to take another crack at it. And you would hope – and I think – he’s more well prepared, he now has a real clear understanding, he’s a year older, a year more mature, a year more understanding of what he needs to do at the NHL level.”

Like McMichael before him, Lapierre has already shown he can play in the NHL. The next step for him is consistency.

“I think last year was just a confidence and consistency thing,” says Lapierre. “Obviously, I didn’t have the camp that I wanted – and I’ve been very open about that – last year, and you start the season off on the wrong foot, the confidence drops, and you’re not making the plays that you want to be making. And then with that comes consistency, where maybe I was good for a night, but the game after is a little harder.”

Although he registered just eight assists in 27 games with the Caps last season, Lapierre suited up for each of Washington’s final 26 games of the regular season in 2023-24, and his 15 points (six goals, nine assists) were fourth on the team across that span.

“He knows what he does really well,” says Carbery of Lapierre. “But sometimes, to be an everyday, effective NHL player, you’ve got to know your weaknesses and just get them ‘up.’ They don’t have to become your strengths, but you’ve got to get them to a level that is acceptable. He’s done a really good job of understanding, ‘Okay, this area of my game doesn’t necessarily have to be a strength, or I have to become someone that I’m not, but I need to get something that isn’t my forte, up to an NHL level, and he’s done a real nice job of understanding that and then going out and executing.”

The trio isn’t expected to barrel out of the gates and produce multiple goals nightly. Reliability is a reasonable early benchmark. But over the course of 82 games, a certain level of consistency is needed from every player on the roster.

“I think it’s just a short-term focus for them of just starting the year, especially for Lappy and Leno, and the biggest word I’m using with them right now is being reliable,” says Carbery. “’Reliable’ is the key word, because when you’re reliable to your teammates and the coaches, you earn more opportunity, and you can play in a lot of different situations.

“I think that’s the key thing for them is, with their decision-making, with their positioning, with their ability to be strong on pucks and win pucks, and get pucks out on the wall, and get pucks in and be able to create some turnovers on the forecheck, that’s reliability. And then, inside of that, their unique skill sets can come to fruition.

“And that’s Lappy’s ability to use his feet to attack and potentially open up some opportunities off the rush. Leno, same thing, but maybe a little bit more on the inside. The reliability component is probably the most important for a young player, because they earn trust, and they earn more opportunity with that.”

For his part, Lapierre is not content merely to make the opening night roster. He’s done that, three times now. His goal is to establish himself as a key piece of the team moving forward. He will accept “reliable” for now, but he wants to be that and much more when it’s all said and done.

“Right now, I’m feeling really, really good,” says Lapierre. “But it’s about consistency, like being really good on both sides of the ice every night. I know it’s very doable, but I just want to show that I can be a good two-way and very smart player. Obviously, I had a better camp than last year, so with that comes a little more confidence, and a little more groove, and a little more swagger. And that’s how I have to play.

“I learned a lot from last year, but I want to wash it away and forget about those 27 games, because it wasn’t a product of who I wanted to be, but I feel good now.”

Although the 20-year-old Leonard just went through his first ever NHL training camp, he logged 17 games (nine in the regular season and eight in the playoffs) after signing with the Caps on April 1 of this year. Drafted eighth overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, Leonard is the highest player the Caps have drafted since pulling Karl Alzner at No. 5 overall in 2007.

As camp wore on this fall, you could see Leonard feeling his oats more every day.

“He’s learning it, no doubt,” says Carbery. “He’s learning it. And let me be the first to say, they’re going to make mistakes. A young player is going to make mistakes; it’s not an easy League to learn on the fly. But we’re okay with that as long as we’re outweighing the good with the bad; we’re being reliable in the dangerous areas of the game, whether that’s at the offensive blue line or [anything else].

“I think Leno has come a long way in that. Last year, I tried to shelter him a lot, being in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and having to deploy him in different ways. This year he’ll get more opportunities to play against top six [players] in a bunch of different situations. I think he’s learned a lot from his experiences, and he understands where that line is that be needs to play on, between being creative and making plays and when he needs to make a strong, smart play.”

A fellow first-rounder (28th overall) who – like Lapierre – also played in the League as a teenager, a 10-year veteran such as Beauvillier seems like an appropriate choice to serve as a veteran presence on that line.

“I think that’s going to be a key part, his linemates helping him,” says Carbery. “And right now with Leonard there, he’s a young player. He is going to be put in a mentoring role for Lappy, as Lappy’s got more experience than Leno does.

“But Beauvillier is a key player because he has so much experience and is such a versatile player that he can really help two young players like that understand what needs to be done shift-to-shift, consistently in the NHL to be effective, whether you’re a skill player, whether you’re a bottom six [player], whether you’re a penalty kill or whether you’re a power play guy, there’s still things that you have to be able to do at a high level to survive in the NHL. And I think Beau has a really clear understanding of that, and he will be able to help those guys along.”

Beauvillier has logged 631 games with six organizations, and he has played all up and down the lineup while establishing the consistency required to have such a lengthy career.

“I think it’s just reps,” he says of developing the chemistry to get the unit rolling. “I think in practice, it’s working together, making sure we always go together at the same time. And I think having a good friendship; I get along really well these two off the ice as well, and I think that’s going to help a lot on the ice. But we play similar style games. We’re going to try to play quick and be good on the forecheck. I think that’s going to be our key to have success.

“We have to use our speed; I think that’s going to be our biggest advantage. Use it to make plays, and play quick, and lots of give-and-goes. That’s what we’re going to have to do to have success as a line.”

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