Oct. 28 vs. Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena

Time: 8:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network

Washington Capitals (6-3-0)
Dallas Stars (3-3-1)

The Caps take to the road again for the final time in October, venturing outside the Eastern Time Zone for the first time this season when they face the Stars in Dallas on Tuesday night. Washington has won three straight road games at the outset of the season for the first time since 2015-16, when it won each of its first four games on the road.

Tuesday night in Dallas, the Caps will aim to match that feat in a building and a city that has traditionally been a tough environment for them; the Capitals are 7-15-2 all-time in Texas, since the Stars moved south from Minnesota for the 1993-94 season. And the Caps seek to extend that streak without two of their key players, both of whom played in all 82 games for Washington last season.

Defenseman Rasmus Sandin missed Washington’s weekend set of back-to-back games with an upper body injury. When the Caps conducted their Monday morning practice prior to their departure for the Lone Star State, Sandin was in a baby blue non-contact sweater. He won’t make the trip to Dallas.

Also staying behind in DC is center Dylan Strome, who left Saturday’s game with Ottawa after suffering a lower body injury when he became entangled with teammate Jakob Chychrun behind the Senators’ net.

Strome’s injury occurred early in the first period of Saturday’s game with the Sens. After being helped off the ice, he came back midway through the initial frame, taking a few tentative twirls around the ice during a television timeout. He took one full shift (57 seconds) and one brief one (eight seconds) before retiring for the evening.

Since joining the Capitals in 2022-23, Strome has missed just one game; he was a healthy scratch midway through his first season with Washington, shortly after both Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson came off injured reserve simultaneously at the midpoint of that campaign. Both Backstrom and Wilson had missed the front half of the season while rehabbing from offseason surgeries.

Caps coach Spencer Carbery is heartened by the fact that Strome was able to come back on the ice and try to play after initially suffering the injury. Carbery termed Strome as “day-to-day.”

“You’re always concerned when someone goes into the boards,” says Carbery. “I guess it wasn’t really a collision, but going into the boards awkwardly, you’re always a little bit concerned. But him coming back out to try it, I would say I was then optimistic. Because if he doesn’t come back at all, that means it’s pretty significant.

“So him coming back to try it and going through a shift after that I would say made me feel a little bit more positive about where he was at.”

With Strome out of the picture for at least the Dallas game, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin is without his most frequent center for the last three-plus seasons as he seeks the goal that will make him the NHL’s first 900-goal scorer ever.

Since Strome’s arrival in Washington in 2022-23, Ovechkin has logged just under 3,300 minutes at even strength, and 57.7 percent of that time has been spent with Strome on his line. Across a much smaller sample size of just 114:14 Ovechkin has played at evens through the season’s first nine games, that share of the ice at even strength with Strome is significantly larger, at 80.5 percent.

Connor McMichael has played a fair amount with Ovechkin over the years, but not so much from the middle of the ice. Typically, when the two have been on a line together, they’ve occupied the wings of the line. Playing with the game’s all-time goal-scoring leader is a unique situation. At Monday’s practice, McMichael manned the middle of a line with Ovechkin and Ryan Leonard.

“It is different,” says Carbery. “And so there are, and I wouldn’t necessarily characterize them as challenges; I would characterize them as nuances and differences that are very similar to playing with any other winger. But [Ovechkin] has some tendencies that you need to be aware of, [such as] where he likes pucks, where he is going to be on the ice, and communication style and all that sort of stuff.

“Mikey has played with him enough for us to feel comfortable. If you remember, he played quite a bit with him last year; he was playing on the wing, not in the middle, so it changes it a little bit.”

Over the first nine games of the season, McMichael and Ovechkin have shared the ice for just under 27 minutes at even strength. Across the previous three seasons – coinciding with Strome’s time in Washington – McMichael and Ovechkin have been on the ice together for just under 14 percent of Ovechkin’s even strength ice time.

“It’s a little bit different than playing with anyone else,” says McMichael. “He is a unique player, obviously. He’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and you just have to adapt to the way he plays a little bit, because you know he is going to be waiting in the weeds, waiting to unleash that one-timer.

“It’s just little things. I think me and Lenny are going to have to work a little cycle game, and you always know that O is going to find ways of getting open. I think it’s more so just running little plays with each other and then looking for a shot. And if it’s not there, then you know O is open somewhere. And honestly, just talking with Stromer over the years and all that fun stuff, he says you can’t change how you play too much. It’s just little, tiny details.”

Washington made a pair of transactions on Monday morning prior to departing for Dallas. Less than 48 hours after loaning him to AHL Hershey, the Caps summoned winger Ethen Frank from that same club. Frank played quite well in Washington’s Friday night win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus, but when P-L Dubois rejoined the Caps’ lineup on Saturday against Ottawa, Frank was sent to Hershey.

The Caps also announced that they’ve signed forward Brett Leason to a one-year, two-way contract that will pay him $775,000 at the NHL level and $250,000 at the AHL level. Leason was a second-round draft choice (56th overall) of the Capitals in the 2019 NHL Draft, and he spent three seasons in the Washington organization, making his NHL debut with the Caps just under four years ago, on Oct. 29, 2021. He scored his first NHL goal three nights later in his second game, against the Lightning in Tampa.

Just over three years ago, Leason was claimed off waivers from Washington by the Anaheim Ducks, and he spent the last three seasons there. Leason has 220 NHL games under his belt, and he has totaled 25 goals, 29 assists and 54 points along with 54 PIM. The 26-year-old Calgary native gives the Caps another experienced NHL hand in the organization, helping to mitigate the loss of winger Sheldon Rempal, who opted to return to the KHL after signing with the Capitals last summer.

Leason was placed on waivers for the purpose of loaning him to AHL Hershey.

Early in the first season of Glen Gulutzan’s second tour of duty as the Dallas bench boss, the Stars have had some ups and downs. Dallas won three straight games out of the starting gate, but followed by dropping four straight (0-3-1), with three of the losses coming on home ice. The Stars enter Tuesday’s game – their third in four nights – after a sweep of a weekend set of back-to-backs by identical 3-2 scores.

With Jake Oettinger in net on Saturday night in Dallas, the Stars dug their way out of a 2-0 first-period deficit, downing the Carolina Hurricanes on the strength of Miro Heiskanen’s first two goals of the season. Oettinger made 32 saves to help the Stars stop a three-game home skid (0-2-1).

A night later in Nashville, Dallas authored another comeback from a 2-0 deficit, with Mikko Rantanen supplying the game-winner on a Stars power play midway through the third period. Casey DeSmith picked up his first victory of the season in Sunday’s win over the Predators, making 23 saves

The tight end position is rife for “matchup nightmares” for opposing defenses. There are players at the position who are often too big for defensive backs to cover or shed blocks from and also too fast for linebackers to keep up with in coverage consistently.

There may not be a bigger mismatch for opposing defenses at the position than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Darnell Washington.

Pittsburgh drafted Washington in the third round, No. 93 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Georgia. As a rookie, Washington played in less than half of the offensive snaps for the Steelers.

That made sense as the former Bulldog was viewed as a prospect with elite traits but needing some refinement in technique to stick in the NFL. In his third season, Washington’s taken a step in his development.

He’s on pace for career-highs across the board as a receiver as his role’s increased on offense under coordinator Arthur Smith. He’ll likely be featured heavily in the Steelers’ “Sunday Night Football” matchup on the road versus the Green Bay Packers.

Don’t worry, he won’t be hard to spot when he’s on the field. He’s one of the biggest players on the field in any game he’s playing.

Darnell Washington size, height, weight

Washington was the biggest tight end selected in his draft class at 6-foot-7 and 264 pounds. Only New York Jets pick Zack Kuntz could match his height at 6-foot-7.

Pittsburgh still lists his weight at 264 pounds on their roster and have since he was drafted in 2023. But that’s not necessarily true.

Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts said last season that Washington weighed over 300 pounds. Former Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson corroborated that and said Washington weighed 315 pounds towards the end of the season.

NFL broadcasters have enjoyed questioning Washington’s listed weight on their roster. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt – now an analyst for CBS – did not think that was correct when asked during the Steelers-Browns game in Week 6.

If Wilson and Roberts’ estimates are true, Washington would be the first tight end playing at 300 pounds or more since 2021 when career guard Dan Feeney was classified as a tight end for the Jets.

His combination of lineman size and tight end athleticism has seen him deployed as a blocker very often for the Steelers’ offense.

Darnell Washington stats

Washington scored his first touchdown of the season in Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s how he’s done so far this season:

• Games: 6 (5 starts)
• Targets: 14
• Catches: 9
• Receiving yards: 84
• Receiving touchdowns: 1

SEATTLE (AP) — Given his youth quarterback experience, Denzel Boston said it almost felt natural to drop back to pass.

Boston, who played quarterback for six years when he was younger, threw and caught a touchdown pass, and finished with career highs of 10 catches and 153 receiving yards to lead Washington to a 42-25 victory over No. 23 Illinois on Saturday.

“That’s who he is,” coach Jedd Fisch said. “I think he’s one of the best receivers in the country. And we’ve continued to find ways to get him the ball, and we’ll always continue to do that.”

Boston, who entered the game 10th in the Big Ten in receiving yards, put the Huskies (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) up for good at 21-17 with a 12-yard TD pass to Jonah Coleman on a trick play with 40 seconds remaining in the first half.

“He’s a baller, everybody knows that,” quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said. “He continues to show that every week.”

Williams, who tossed four touchdown passes, threw a backward pass to Boston. The junior wideout promptly threw the ball across the field to a wide-open Coleman, allowing Washington to head into halftime with a lead it would not relinquish.

“It was certainly nice to see Denzel take that one and run with it and throw the ball there to Jonah,” Fisch said. “All that was really good.”

The Huskies led 14-3 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of 13-yard receiving touchdowns by Dezmen Roebuck. The Fighting Illini (5-3, 2-3) struck twice in the second quarter and took a 17-14 lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass by Luke Altmyer to Tanner Arkin.

After Arkin’s touchdown catch, though, Washington outscored Illinois 28-8. It was the Huskies’ second win against a Top 25 team under Fisch; Washington beat No. 10 Michigan 27-17 at home last season.

The Fighting Illini, meanwhile, lost for the third time in five weeks after a 3-0 start to the year in which they were ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation.

“It was great to get a win against a Top 25 team,” Fisch said. “They’re a very good football team. They won 10 games last year.”

Washington’s sixth victory matched the Huskies’ total number of wins from the 2024 campaign, which was Fisch’s first at Washington.

“It’s great that we got six wins,” Boston said. “We got many more to go.”

3rd down thriving

The Huskies entered the contest 14th in the Big Ten in third-down conversion rate during conference play, having succeeded on just 15 of 43 attempts. But on Saturday, Washington converted nine of 11 third-down opportunities.

Fisch credited Washington’s success to how the offense fared on first and second down.

“I think the biggest thing is we weren’t in a lot of third-and-longs,” Fisch said.

Ballhawk dogs

Seven games into first-year defensive coordinator Ryan Walters’ tenure, Washington ranked 69th nationally in turnovers created with eight. The Huskies generated two of them on Saturday, both coming on interceptions of Altmyer by cornerback Tacario Davis and safety Rahshawn Clark.

A jovial Fisch described that development as “awesome”.

“Takeaways are huge,” Fisch said. “I told them all week long, you get zero takeaways, you’ve got about a 25% chance to win…It was a good day in taking the ball away.”

The takeaway

Illinois: The Fighting Illini defense, which was ranked 73rd in the country in total defense heading into the game, struggled mightily against Washington’s offense. The Huskies scored on all six of their red zone opportunities, and just two of their eight drives did not end in a touchdown.

Washington: Coleman increased his career high for rushing touchdowns in a season with his 13th of the year. The senior running back has 15 total touchdowns this season to lead the Huskies in scoring.

Up next

Illinois: Hosts Rutgers on Nov. 1.

Washington: At Wisconsin on Nov. 8.