{"id":404131,"date":"2026-01-12T22:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/404131\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T22:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:44:19","slug":"washington-capitals-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-another-milestone-injuries-and-more-the-hockey-writers-washington-capitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/404131\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Capitals Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Another Milestone, Injuries and More – The Hockey Writers – Washington Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals are entering a critical week for their playoff positioning in the Metropolitan Division. Following a tough 3-2 loss<\/a> to the Nashville Predators on Sunday, they look to bounce back with a heavy home schedule. Here are the key storylines and their upcoming schedule for the week of Jan. 12-18, 2026.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGr8\u201d Chase Continues <\/p>\n

Even at age 40, captain Alex Ovechkin remains the team\u2019s headline story. In the recent loss to Nashville, Ovechkin scored his 20th goal of the season. This marks his 21st career 20-goal season<\/a>, passing Ron Francis for the second-most in NHL history (trailing only Gordie Howe\u2019s 22). While he broke the all-time goal record back in April 2025, he continues to push the bar higher, now sitting at 917 career goals.<\/p>\n

Injury Woes<\/p>\n

The Capitals are navigating significant injury trouble<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Jakob Chychrun (D): Day-to-day with illness.<\/p>\n

Tom Wilson (RW): Currently on Injured Reserve (IR) with a lower-body injury sustained against the Chicago Blackhawks. He missed the Nashville game but is eligible to return soon; his status remains day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Justin Sourdif (F): Left Sunday\u2019s game against Nashville early with an upper-body injury after taking a puck to the face. He is listed as day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Pierre-Luc Dubois (C): Remains out long-term (abdominal surgery) and is not expected back until after the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

The Playoff Dogfight <\/p>\n

The Capitals are currently sitting in the last Wild Card spot<\/a> in the Eastern Conference, fighting alongside teams like the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. A major weakness has been their inability to secure extra points; the team is currently 0-5 in shootouts this season. With three home games this week, collecting maximum points is crucial to staying in the race.<\/p>\n

Capitals Schedule Jan. 12 \u2013 18<\/p>\n

DateTime (ET)OpponentLocationTue, Jan. 137:00 PMMontreal CanadiensCapital One ArenaThu, Jan. 157:00 PMSan Jose SharksCapital One ArenaSat, Jan. 177:00 PMFlorida PanthersCapital One Arena<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

\"SUBSCRIBE<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals are entering a critical week for their playoff positioning in the Metropolitan Division. Following a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[426,191,5,284,4,280,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-404131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-alex-ovechkin","9":"tag-capitals","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-jakob-chychrun","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-tom-wilson","14":"tag-washington","15":"tag-washington-capitals","16":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115884554101346222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}