Everybody enjoy a good day drink. It’s the foundation of some of the best holidays this continent has to offer. What do you do on Thanksgiving? You get together with your family and friends and drink earlier than usual and more than usual. Christmas? You’d better believe it’s the same thing with the addition of presents. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many upcoming holidays that will allow the degenerates of the world to abuse their livers, so we have to make up another reason to. Lucky for us who follow the great sport of hockey, we have been spoiled with the fact that the NHL has returned to play with 116-straight days of play. 56 of those days will include our Washington Capitals. Since we won’t be day-drinking for Valentine’s Day, I will analyze the Capitals’ schedule and identify the best days for Caps fan to get their early drank throughout the season.

Washington Capitals vs. Buffalo Sabres. Saturday, February 13th, 1:00pm EST

Is there a sports city that would enjoy day-drinking more than Buffalo? #BillsMafia has made an entire brand around their ability to tailgate and pre-game booze and it’s only right this transition begins in hockey. This will be the sixth time these teams face each other this season, so we’ll already hate them enough. Plus, an afternoon game on a Saturday? A few mimosas during the game will really ignite your passion for Capitals hockey. But the real cherry on top for this one: the fact that we, at Chirpin’ DMV, are doing a Happy Hour Live Show 30 minutes before puck drop. That means at 12:30pm ET, we will begin our drinking with the fans. There has never been a better time to celebrate hockey being back than an afternoon game against the Sabres with your pals from Chirpin’ DMV.

Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils. Saturday, February 27th, 1:00pm EST

Let’s just be honest here, there are few teams in the NHL as boring as the New Jersey Devils. Even if they were the best team in the league and defending Stanley Cup champions, I would just not care about them. So what’s one way to make a date with the Devils more entertaining? By beginning your day-drink. With these two meeting up nice and early on a Saturday, it allows for you to break in the weekend the right way and toss back a nice beverage while hopefully watching the Capitals light up the Devils like they’ve entered the gates of Hell. Maybe have some Bloody Marys to really fit the atmosphere of a Devils game.

Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers. Saturday, March 13th, 7:00pm EST

I won’t lie to you, March isn’t a great month for the alcoholic Capitals fans in your life. They only play one game on a Saturday (which, if you haven’t noticed, has been the particular day of the week I have picked to day-drink for). So, for your one-and-only day to get after it for a Capitals game, I have gone ahead and chosen their 7pm ET matchup with the scumbag Philadelphia Flyers. Philly has a similar vibe as Buffalo, but maybe to an even greater extent. When you think of Philly sports fans, you think of that complete mutant, painting his face and overweight body Flyers orange, crushing two beers at the same time at the game because one isn’t enough, and trying to fight a rival fan despite his young child being with him. You know they’ll be drinking for this one, so it’s only fair that Caps fans get to do the same thing.

Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils. Friday, April 2nd, 7:00pm EST

March is a big month so make sure you do some liver workouts prior to the first of March hitting. Also, I know, I just complained about the Devils. But hey, this game is on Good Friday. Did you want to have a good Friday like the holiday indicates? Then you should have a nice day-booze in preparation for this game. This is that fun middle-ground where the holidays that I mentioned in the intro meet-up with the hockey games we love to watch. It’s a perfect blend and requires alcohol and good family and friends to enjoy the good ole hockey game.

Washington Capitals vs. Boston Bruins. April 10th, 7:00pm EST

I know there is a Capitals/Flyers game the next week at 12:30pm EST, but we have enough day-games on this list. Plus, the Bruins are a legacy team. They, much like the Caps, have been a dominant force in the NHL for 10+ years. They deserve respect. That means that all of their games this season deserve to be must-watch. The only difference is that this one deserves to be celebrated as well. Why? Well, because it’s their first game on a Saturday throughout the season. Everyone drinks on Saturdays. I’m pretty sure it’s a global law or something.

Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins. May 1st, 7:00pm EST

Look, I fucking hate the Pittsburgh Penguins. If you’re reading this, I bet you do too. So any time these two teams play each other, I want to watch and I want the Capitals to murder them. Not literally, of course, but figuratively, I want Penguin carcasses. So I consider any game between these two an event, anyway. However, we also have a Happy Hour Live Show at 6:30pm EST before this matchup, and it’s our last one of the regular season. You think we’ll go out without a bang? Yeah, okay. That means we’ll be drinking, regardless. Why not start a little early? Just get angry and pumped up before the game with us at Chirpin’ DMV. Fuel your rage and punch a fridge, do something but make sure it starts early for this particular game.

There you have it. All the best days to day-drink throughout the rest of the Washington Capitals’ insane 2021 season. I hope everyone takes this as seriously as I wrote it and decides, “Hmm, you know what? Ben was right. I should be getting day-drunk for this Capitals game. Plus, he’s really good looking.” The last part is generally not as important as the first part, but very important to my self-esteem. If you do decide to tag along on these glorious days, Tweet a picture or post a picture on your Instagram story and tag @chirpindmv to make sure we see it. In the meantime, I will be trying to develop the COVID vaccine to get my Russian boys back out on the ice. Wish me luck.