Photo: John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images
The Washington Capitals were once again on the wrong end of bounces and puck luck in their 3-1 loss against the Nashville Predators. This was illustrated in the second period, where the Capitals had 11 scoring chances, six of which were high-danger opportunities, but they could not convert, and one bad bounce sent Predators forward Philip Tomasino on a breakaway to give Nashville a 2-1 lead.
“It felt like we built so much momentum in the second that a goal would have put that momentum over the edge. I think we really would have had a good chance to close it out,” Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said after the game. “That breakaway goal really deflated a lot of the momentum that we had.”
Goaltender Juuse Saros, who improved to 6-0-0 in the month of December, was the difference with 21 saves on 22 shots. He had a lot of help in front of him as well, with the Predators blocking 18 shots along with playing a physical brand of hockey with 27 hits.
Here is what stood out.
Predators Hunting For Prey
The Predators, who were coming off the front end of a back-to-back with the Carolina Hurricanes, came out of the gate flying and the Capitals looked a step behind. What was very evident the entire game was the aggressive Nashville forecheck.
They were hounding pucks like banshees and did not allow Washington’s blueliners to operate. They were getting in passing lanes and breaking up a lot of plays. Charlie Lindgren once again bailed out the Caps whenever they did turn the puck over.
“I felt all night guys were fighting the puck from our back end, especially fighting the puck. So they have a tough night back there,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after the loss. “And then even offensively, like with a lot of the situations that you see that we get into, there’s just not quite that last couple of plays to finish or to get a puck to the middle of the rink or finding an option backside, or tuck one under the bar.”
The Predators ended the game with 10 takeaways. The Caps will see a very similar style to Nashville’s on Sunday against Carolina.
Struggling To Connect And Breakout Of D-Zone
Even after the Capitals tied the game on the power play, the forecheck was still giving the Caps issues. They struggled to move up ice through the neutral zone and got a lot of chances on transition.
“Our puck play through the neutral zone, sometimes through our end, just wasn’t clean enough to really wear down a team on the second night of their back-to-back,” Oshie said. “I think the game probably could have went either way, but when you catch a team [in a back-to-back], you need a better start, and you need to wear them down from the start. And the first period, they took it to us.”
Washington slowly turned the tide toward the second half of the first period and started to execute. It put the Predators on their heels for the entire second period, but the Caps simply could not beat Saros.
Power Play On The Rise; Alex Ovechkin Hungry
Washington’s power play now has goals in two straight games. Oshie tied the game on a two-man advantage, and the Caps kept peppering shots and getting quality lanes during the rest of the power play.
The Caps were doing a very good job at entering the attacking zone and winning the races whenever they decided to chip the puck in. The biggest thing that stuck out during the four Capitals power plays was the 50/50 battles in the corners.
The Caps won just about every one of those and this allowed them to keep up the pressure and tire the Predators’ penalty killers. The man-advantage unit went 1-for-4 and is now the third worst in the league at 10%.
Alex Ovechkin had one shot on goal on the power play on four attempts. Speaking of the Capitals captain, he had one of his best games of the season. Along with having an assist on Oshie’s power-play marker, he was generating a lot of offense and getting to scoring areas, which was missing for the 38-year-old winger.
But despite having six shots on goal and points in back-to-back games, Ovechkin does not have a goal in 12 straight games.
Notable Numbers and Observations
- The entire top 6 looked really good. They created a lot of offense. I really liked the second line of Joe Snively, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and T.J. Oshie
- The Capitals had 11 scoring chances in the second period
- Martin Fehervary had six hits, which led the team and Oshie had four. It was a very physical game. Nashville had 27 hits compared to Washington’s 16.
- The Caps had 9 high-danger chances at 5v5, six of which came in the 2nd.
- Washington had four shots on goal on five power-play attempts
- The Capitals PK went 2-for-3
- The Caps blocked 11 shots compared to Nashville’s 18.
- The Capitals were once again solid in the faceoff circle, going 61.4% in the dot.
The Capitals will be right back in action on Sunday when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes at 6 p.m. at PNC Arena.
By Jacob Cheris