After a terrible California road trip last week, the Capitals came back home and responded with a nice 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.  Alex Ovechkin finally broke his 10-game goal drought and tallied his 28^th goal of the season for the Capitals.  Four out of the next five games for the Capitals are at home.  The Capitals will look to extend their win streak as they face off against the Nashville Predators tonight at Verizon Center.  Puck drop is at 7 PM ET on CSN and NHL Network.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS
The Predators have been hot lately.  They have won 2 straight games and 6 out of their last 10 games.  While they have not performed as well as their division rivals Chicago and Minnesota, the Predators are currently clinging to the 3^rd seed in the Central Division.

Hockey fans may not be familiar with a player named Viktor Arvidsson.  Arvidsson, 23, has been Nashville’s unsung hero this season.  He has 24 goals and 50 points in 67 games.  Arvidsson was selected by the Predators in the 4^th round of the 2014 NHL Draft.

The Predators are loaded on the blueline.  P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, and Ryan Ellis round out a quality defense core.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS
The Capitals are expected to get Kevin Shattenkirk back in the lineup tonight after he served a 2-game suspension for charging.  With Shattenkirk slotting back in, it appears that Nate Schmidt will become a healthy scratch.  Schmidt tallied a goal against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

Trotz said the team’s top-six defensemen are the guys in the lineup tonight. “Nate is 7.”

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) March 16, 2017

Barry Trotz revealed some great news on the injury front.  Andre Burakovsky is expected to practice fully tomorrow, so his return is right around the corner.

Trotz said Burakovsky is expected to practice fully tomorrow. Team will make a determination off that about whether or not he travels to TB.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) March 16, 2017

The Capitals are still clinging to a 2-point Metropolitan Division lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Over the next week, the Capitals will have plenty of home cooking to rack up some points against some competitive teams.

Braden Holtby is expected to get the start in net against the Predators.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION STANDINGS

A LOOK BACK IN TIME
On February 25, the Capitals visited Smashville and got crushed 5-2.  Here are the game highlights:

GAME LINKS
Game Notes vs. Nashville, 3/16/17 (Capitals PR)

By: George Foussekis