The Washington Capitals squandered a third-straight third period lead, gave up four goals in the final frame and fell to the Predators 6-5 Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. This was the Capitals seventh consecutive loss to the Predators (0-6-1). (Full game recap is here). The loss was the Capitals’ first in regulation this season and put them at a 2-1-2 (6 points) record, two points behind first place Carolina in the Metropolitan Division. Let’s take a closer look at the stats from the game.
Game Stats
Caps Lines
Braden Holtby started in goal for the Capitals. Pekka Rinne started between the pipes for the Predators. The Capitals starting lines:
#Caps lines in Nashville:
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 14-Panik
28-Leipsic, 18-Stephenson, 21-Hathaway34-Siegenthaler, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
33-Gudas, 78-LewingtonHoltby vs Rinne. #CapsPreds
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 10, 2019
Nic Dowd was the healthy scratch. Michal Kempny has yet to return from injury.
Game Notes
- The Predators led in shots on goal 38-26.
- Lars Eller and Dmitry Orlov led the Caps in SOG with 3 each.
- The Capitals squandered four different leads in the game.
- The Capitals gave-up two goals in a span of 28 seconds of the final frame.
- The Capitals have now been outscored 8-2 in third periods this season.
- Braden Holtby stopped 32 of 38 shots on goal for an .842 game save percentage.
- Braden Holtby has now yielded 15 goals in four games.
- John Carlson had three assists in the game. He has seven assists in five games.
- The Capitals ended their power play scoreless drought with two power play goals from Alex Ovechkin.
Reirden Post Game Presser
Caps head coach Todd Reirden talks with the media after a 6-5 loss against the Nashville Predators pic.twitter.com/xL5JHLcphC
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 11, 2019
Possession
The Predators controlled possession for most of the game. The Capitals had minor surges in the middle of each period, but it wasn’t enough. Without the power play goals, the Capitals would have been blown-out in this one. (Stats via Natural Stat Trick).
For the game, the Predators out-attempted the Capitals 54-35. The differential was fairly consistent across all three periods: 6, 5 and 8.
As for line performance, the Capitals first line was scorched in the 5v5 possession battle. Conversely, the Capitals fourth line generated the greatest positive shot differential (CF>50%) in the game.
By Jon Sorensen