The Washington Capitals have officially announced their 2025-26 schedule.

The Caps will kick off their season on October 8 at home against the Boston Bruins before hitting the road to face the New York Islanders and New York Rangers.

The Capitals will play three four-game homestands in 2025-26 from October 14-21, November 22-28, and March 14-22. Their longest road trip will see them go west for a six-game stretch between January 19 and 29.

Capitals’ 2025-26 regular-season schedule

Washington will look to repeat a strong regular-season showing from 2024-25 that saw it lead the Eastern Conference with a 111-point (51-22-9) record, besting the team’s 2023-24 performance by 20 points. Captain Alex Ovechkin also sits just three goals away from 900 as he enters what could be his final NHL season.

The Caps will hit the ice for several holiday games over the season, including on Halloween (October 31 vs New York Islanders), Black Friday (November 28 vs Toronto), and New Year’s Eve (December 31 vs New York Rangers).

With NHL players returning to the Olympics in February 2026 for the first time since 2014, the league will pause from February 6 to 24. Martin Fehervary became the first Capitals player named to an 2026 Olympic roster and will represent his native Slovakia at the Games.

Important home games (per the Capitals):

• Oct. 8 – Home opener at Capital One Arena versus the Boston Bruins
• Oct. 14 – The Capitals face the Tampa Bay Lightning
• Oct. 31 – Washington hosts the New York Islanders on Halloween
• Nov. 19 – Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers make their lone visit to Capital One Arena
• Nov. 28 – The Capitals host Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs the day after Thanksgiving
• Dec. 11 – The Capitals face the Carolina Hurricanes in a Metropolitan Division clash
• Dec. 23 – The New York Rangers make their first of two visits to Capital One Arena for the Capitals’ final game before the holiday break
• Dec. 31 – The New York Rangers return to D.C. for a New Year’s Eve matinee
• Jan. 3 – The Capitals face Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks
• Jan. 13 – The Capitals host the Montreal Canadiens in a rematch of last season’s First Round series
• Jan. 17 – The Capitals face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers
• Jan. 31 – The Carolina Hurricanes make their second of two trips to D.C.
• Feb. 27 – The Capitals face the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night
• March 20 – The Capitals host the New Jersey Devils for a Friday night divisional contest
• March 31 – The Capitals face Metropolitan Division rival Philadelphia
• April 12 – Washington completes its 2025-26 home regular-season schedule against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Caps will begin their preseason on September 21 and will play six exhibition games before Opening Night, including a game at the Hershey’s Giant Center on September 25 against the Philadelphia Flyers. See the full preseason schedule here.

Here’s the press release from the Capitals:

Capitals Announce 2025-26 Regular-Season Schedule

Washington hosts the Boston Bruins in season opener on Oct. 8 at Capital One Arena

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Hockey League today announced the 2025-26 regular-season schedule for its 32 member clubs. The Washington Capitals will open the season at home against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Capital One Arena.

The Capitals have six homestands of at least three games on the schedule, the longest being three four-game homestands at Capital One Arena from Oct. 14-21, Nov. 22-28 and March 14-22. Washington also has five stretches of at least three consecutive road games, including a season-long six-game road trip from Jan. 19-29. In addition, the Capitals will have 14 sets of back-to-back games.

Eighteen of the Capitals’ 41 home games at Capital One Arena fall on weekends, which include five games on Friday, nine on Saturday and four on Sunday. The schedule features holiday home games on Halloween (Oct. 31 vs. NY Islanders) and New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31 vs. NY Rangers). Last season, the Capitals posted the seventh best home record in the NHL (26-9-6) and ranked fourth in the League in goals per game at home (3.68).

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The Capitals’ schedule will pause for a 17-day break from Feb. 6-22 for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, which will take place on Feb. 6-22.

Television broadcast plans will be released at a later date. All Capitals games can be heard on the Capitals Radio Network, 106.7 The Fan, WashingtonCaps.com and on the Washington Caps mobile app.

Home prices are on the rise in Washington state.

Statewide, the median sales price of a home in Washington during the first quarter of 2025 was $636,200, representing a 1.6% increase from the same period in 2024, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington.

The center’s latest housing market report stated that home prices increased in all of the state’s 16 metropolitan counties compared to a year ago. Zooming out for a statewide view, rural Lincoln County in Eastern Washington saw the biggest relative increase at 22.1%. The median home price in Lincoln was $274,500 in the first quarter of this year.

In Kitsap County, the relative increase was 2.1% and the median home price was $543,600. In King County, the increase was 1.1% and the median home price was $940,900, representing the highest median price in the state.

“Washington state’s housing market was mixed in the first quarter of 2025, with sales and inventory increasing and new building permits declining compared with a year ago,” the report stated. Approximately 7,500 building permits were issued in the first quarter of 2025, representing an 18.9% decrease from the same period last year.

Here’s more on the report and where home prices are increasing the most in the state.

Where have housing prices increased the most in Washington state?

There’s a new curfew in Laurel, Maryland, after fights, illegal fireworks and a shooting disrupted the city’s Fourth of July festivities.

Thousands attended Laurel’s Independence Day Celebration at Granville Gude Park on Saturday.

Large groups of teens disrupted the event by getting into fights, setting off illegal fireworks. One teen was shot, authorities said.

“It was organized chaos, I call it,” Laurel Mayor Keith Sydnor said.

Videos on TikTok show much of the chaos happened at the Laurel Town Centre.

“It’s been a trend in various cities throughout the state of Maryland with juveniles coming into the city on purpose and causing disruption. And they happened to come into our city on July the 5th and cause some disruption that made us review some of our curfew policies,” Sydnor said.

The new temporary curfew began Friday night and will be in effect every night through August 31.

Children under the age of 17 can’t be out without an adult from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Sydnor said if police see children violating the curfew they will interview the child to find out why they’re out past 11 p.m. before taking them home or having a parent or guardian pick them up.

“Not for us to try to grab kids and lock ’em up. We want to just push the kids along. We want the parents to deliver the message. Know where your kid is at all times,” Sydnor said.

Opinions about the curfew are mixed. One man who attended the Fourth of July celebration said he didn’t see any problems.

“A lot of times it’s done on your feelings and emotions. You need to kind of set those feelings and emotions aside and have some good common sense and logic. Don’t just put a curfew or put something in because on this particular day this happened,” he said.

A grandmother who was out shopping with her grandkids on Monday told News4 teens need to be home and she supports the curfew.

“These kids don’t have no structure, no discipline, no nothing. This would help with crime with teenagers,” she said.

Sydnor said the city has activities for teens, including drop-in events at recreation centers, a safe summer nights program and “real talk” sessions for kids 13 to 17 to hear their concerns.

“We have safe spaces for them to come in and … learn stuff at the same time and have fun,” Sydnor said.

Police said no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting during the Fourth of July celebration.