While everyone has been enjoying the warm weather that summer provides, many sports fans in D.C. anticipate being near a sheet of ice to watch their beloved Washington Capitals.
Washington Capitals fans can begin to plan their falls accordingly now. Just a few days after the preseason schedule came out and hours before tonight’s NHL Draft, the league announced the home openers for each team.
Capitals fans got an extra treat finding out at least when the dates will be for their first two games of the season. Remember the magical night on Oct. 3, 2018 when the Capitals raised that majestic Stanley Cup banner to the Capital One Arena rafters?
On Oct. 2, the NHL season will begin with a matchup between the Capitals and the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. It’s finally their turn to raise their very first banner, a 51-year wait for their fans young and old.
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This will mark the fourth time overall the Capitals take part in a banner night. In 2013, the Capitals traveled to Chicago to open the season. In 2016, the Capitals were in Pittsburgh for theirs.
The intriguing part of this is both clubs are meeting twice in the preseason but it’s doubtful Tom Wilson will be present in those games. Will he be on the Enterprise Center ice for their Opening Night?
Sandwiched between the season and home openers is a road contest against former Capitals coach and recently named Jack Adams Award winner Barry Trotz. They’ll take on the New York Islanders at the new Nassau Collesium.
Capitals are also playing the Islanders at the new Nassau Coliseum on Oct. 4 for NYI’s home-opener.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) June 21, 2019
As for the Capitals home opener, they’ll welcome the Carolina Hurricanes in an epic Eastern Conference Quarterfinal rematch from this past spring on Saturday Oct. 5.
This thrilling series that took seven games ended in a close double overtime that could’ve gone either way. But it didn’t go Washington’s way. Brock McGinn got the deflection goal to complete the upset and stun the hockey world.
What made the upset sting maybe a little bit more for Capitals fans was how Washington won all four regular season games against Carolina. Not only that, but the Capitals also had both a 2-0 series lead and a 3-2 series lead with a chance to close them out. So Washington will have some storm surging payback on their mind.
Per the media release the Capitals sent out, Washington is 16-2-1-1 all-time in home openers at Capital One Arena and it is their fourth time in the history of the franchise that they’ve faced Carolina in their home opener. The Capitals have won all three of those previous games.
The full NHL schedule will be released at noon eastern on Tuesday, June 25. Also the NHL Draft is this weekend with round one on Friday and round’s 2-7 on Saturday.