Matchup details and resources
Matchup
Capitals @ Blues
Calendar
March 24, 2026 (a Tuesday)
Faceoff
8:00 p.m. EDT
Arena
Enterprise Center
TV
FDSNMW, MNMT
Additional resources
Gamecenter via the NHL, NaturalStatTrick's page, Moneypuck breakdown, HockeyViz charts
Box scores
Summary of the contest, Rundown of events, Full play log, Home ice time, Visitor ice time, Chart of shifts, Lineups
---
Setting the stage
This evening Washington, owners of a 35-27-9 mark worth 79 points, travels in to face a St. Louis side sitting at 28-30-11 for 67 points. Over their previous five outings the Caps have banked standings points on four occasions, and they aim to keep grinding out their stingy, defense-first style against a Blues club riding a 7-1-2 stretch through its most recent 10.
Even as the points have piled up for Washington lately, scoring has all but dried up — the team has cleared the 2-goal mark on only two occasions across its last 10 contests and has leaned on outstanding goaltending to grab wins or points.
For this one, Spencer Carbery once again gives the crease to Thompson, whose nod tonight marks five straight.
Sidelined by a lower-body issue, Ethen Frank is unavailable, opening a spot for Miroshnichenko to suit up for the initial time since being summoned by the Capitals from the AHL on March 6. Miro had sat as a healthy scratch for eight consecutive games. He'll round out the bottom trio next to Hendrix Lapierre and Brandon Duhaime.
Fresh off another landmark of his own, Alex Ovechkin arrives having just notched career goal No. 1,000 once you combine the regular-season and postseason totals.
St. Louis has lately drawn strong contributions throughout the roster. For the seven-day window closing on March 15, 2026, the league named winger Jimmy Snuggerud its third star, an honor that followed multi-point nights in four straight games. Pavel Buchnevich, across a recent 14-game span, has piled up a dozen points: seven tallies paired with five helpers. As for Robert Thomas, he's reached the scoresheet in nine of the ten games he's played this March, racking up five goals and eight assists for 13 points. Guarding the crease, Jordan Binnington owns victories in three of his past four appearances.
First puck tonight is scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern, carried by the Monumental Sports broadcast, where Craig Laughlin and Joe Beninati share the booth.
---
Fresh blossom-themed Caps headwear
📸: Fanatics via the league store
Note: A small cut of whatever you buy through the retail links here flows to RMNB. Those dollars go toward paying our writers, beefing up the site's infrastructure, and producing more coverage. Consider it a painless method of backing what we do.
I picked one up already, so why not join me! Washington's blossom-themed '47 caps, stamped with that Screaming Eagle mark, have landed. One arrives in black while its counterpart sports an asphalt-toned rope design. Additional choices appear in the promotional post we put up today.
---
Projected lineups
Washington Capitals
Line 1:
Beauvillier
Ovechkin
Strome
Line 2:
Wilson
Protas
Dubois
Line 3:
Leonard
McMichael
Sourdif
Line 4:
Miroshnichenko
Duhaime
Lapierre
Pair 1:
Sandin
Fehervary
Pair 2:
TVR
Chychrun
Pair 3:
Roy
Hutson
Goalies:
Lindgren
Thompson
Blues (St. Louis)
Line 1:
Snuggerud
Holloway
Thomas
Line 2:
Kyrou
Neighbours
Buchnevich
Line 3:
Berggren
Stenberg
Dvorsky
Line 4:
Suter
Toropchenko
Finley
Pair 1:
Mailloux
Broberg
Pair 2:
Parayko
Lindstein
Pair 3:
Holl
Fowler
Goalies:
Binnington
Hofer
---
Netminder comparison
Thompson (WSH): a .912 stop rate, GSAx of +29.3, and a 31-21-6 line.
Hofer (STL): a .910 stop rate, GSAx of +11.7, and a 24-13-5 line.
Capstangibles: 🍆 versus 🎩
---
Pregame tunnel antics
---
First period
Opening faceoff. Carbery rolls out McMichael-Sourdif-Leonard along with the Chychrun-TVR pairing. As that first draw takes place, Kyrou and McMichael appear to exchange a few words.
Both teams' initial chances carried some bite. From the point, Colton Parayko hammered a heavy attempt, and moments later Strome sat unmarked down low. Loose pucks were available, yet neither club could finish.
Ivan Miroshnichenko rattles the puck off the iron.
Lindstein hooks Dubois, sending the Capitals to their opening man advantage.
🔋
Man advantage
Theo Lindstein, 2:00 for hooking, called 7:46
One heavy drive toward the cage came off Ovechkin's stick, but Hofer had an answer.
One thing worth flagging: each time the guy we'd projected out of camp as a bottom-six winger ends up idling near the crease with the No. 2 unit on the man advantage, I find myself puzzling over whatever happens away from the cameras to persuade the coaches that this represents their optimal PP setup. Notably, Miro logged none of that time. Honestly, what's the strategy?
A second observation: carrying the puck into the zone, Hutson nearly buried a slick attempt out of the right-side circle just as the extra-man chance ran out. On an earlier turn he leaned too far into creativity and was almost punished by St. Louis — those greenhorn lapses surface whenever he over-extends in solo situations — but what a blessing that such slips can come during a campaign already written off. The kid is bound for greatness.
Roughly 13 minutes deep, Washington has fired half a dozen of the contest's opening seven attempts.
On a rather lazy play, Chychrun hauls down Justin Holl, who isn't the quickest of skaters.
🦓
Shorthanded
Jakob Chychrun, 2:00 for tripping, called 13:45
Washington successfully kills it off.
Neighbours uses the stick to upend Wilson and drive him into the end boards — that's a penalty. Off to the side, Buchnevich and Fehervary get into some angry shoving.
🔋
Man advantage
Jake Neighbours, 2:00 for slashing, called at the 19:12 mark
Between periods: It's knotted 0-0. Washington held an 8-4 edge in shots and clearly generated the stronger chances over the period. To open the second, the Caps carry a 1:12 power play at five-on-four.
---
Second period
Underway once more.
Directly off the draw, the duo of Tom Wilson and Ryan Leonard charges up on a 2-on-1. Only 7 seconds along, Wilson's shot deflects up into the chin area of Hofer's mask, stopping play long enough for the netminder to reset his bucket.
Hofer glides over toward his bench to grab a replacement mask. There's a mark, plus some puffiness along the right cheek. Ouch.
In off a one-timer it goes. Snuggerud. Following crisp passing, he tucks it past Thompson to the short side.
🚨
Blues 1, Capitals 0
Scored by Jimmy Snuggerud (16). Helpers from L. Mailloux (6) and P. Broberg (21). Clock: 2:39
Fight: Ryan Leonard vs. Otto Stenberg, dropped at 7:38 once Leonard absorbed an up-high check delivered by the Blues' rearguard. While the referee seemed to inform Leonard that the check landed shoulder-to-shoulder, Leno also caught an elbow square in the face.
Getting to a loose rebound, Parayko backhands it toward the cage, and a save is made by Thompson. The pair, teammates on Team Canada, were then spotted chatting.
A post-whistle dustup at 12:04 results in a roughing double-minor for Tom Wilson, while minors go to both Thomas and Snuggerud. The action remains at five-on-five.
Along the side boards, a slash on Holl's leg comes from McMichael. That's a penalty.
🦓
Shorthanded
Connor McMichael, 2:00 for slashing, called 14:34
The Caps kill it off.
Between periods: St. Louis leads 1-0, while the shot counts sit level at 13-13.
---
Third period
Back to action.
Joe Beninati runs down the scores from around the league, emphasizing how much the Capitals require a victory this evening to climb in the postseason race. Love the hopefulness.
Snuggerud and Broberg seize control deep in the attacking zone, manufacturing three or four big looks. Logan Thompson answers with a handful of massive saves.
I lol'd
TVR taps his stick multiple times at the top of the left circle, calling for the puck. He then gets a pass and misses the net by about 10 feet. — Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 25, 2026
Robert Thomas commits interference on Pierre-Luc Dubois, who responds by dragging him to the ice. Thomas comes up injured during the sequence as PLD heads toward the penalty area. Officials are slapping him with a major worth five minutes, a ruling that seems absurdly harsh given that Thomas initiated the collision and committed the interference himself.
Helped off, Thomas departs for the dressing room. His own punishment is a two-minute interference minor. PLD, meanwhile, draws the full five for a match penalty plus a game ejection. The clock is being served by Miro.
🦓
Shorthanded
Pierre-Luc Dubois, 5:00 match penalty (intent to injure), called 8:25
For a pair of minutes the sides go four-a-side, and then St. Louis serves a major lasting three minutes.
🦓
Shorthanded
Blues whistled for too many men, called 11:38
So the skaters go four-a-side once more for a two-minute span.
The Blues are now down to a 45-second major.
The Caps wipe out the major. They've got just over six minutes to find an equalizer.
Daggerrrrrrrr. On a sequence of crisp give-and-go passing, the Blues leave Thompson helpless right at the doorstep.
🚨
Blues 2, Capitals 0
Scored by Otto Stenberg (2). Helpers from D. Dvorsky (7) and J. Berggren (12). Clock: 14:52
At the 2:34 mark, Washington yanks Thompson in favor of a sixth skater.
🚨
Blues 3, Capitals 0
Empty-netter from Jordan Kyrou (17). No assists. Clock: 19:19
Final: the Caps are blanked by a 3-0 count. The clean sheet belongs to Joel Hofer.
Weird animosity and nothing on the scoreboard: Blues beat Capitals 3-0
---
Drop your thoughts in the comments. Keep refreshing this page to follow along while play continues. The thread closes a short while once the buzzer sounds.