The Washington Capitals wrap up their season series with GM and 2018 Stanley Cup Champion head coach Barry Trotz’s Nashville Predators on Saturday night (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network locally, ESPN+ out-of-market). Nashville took the first meeting by a score of 3-1 14 days ago, their second straight victory over Washington.
Schedule
Nashville: wraps up back-to-back set of road games after losing 5-4 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday before going home for their next two games
Washington: ends back-to-back after 5-1 loss to New York Islanders on Friday, starts stretch where they host eight of their next 10 games at Capital One Arena
How Each Team Is Doing
Nashville: has lost three straight, is 1-3-1 since beating Washington, which ended a 13-3-0 run
Washington: lost first two games after the NHL’s holiday break, each by a 5-1 count, after collecting points in four straight (3-0-1) and eight of their previous nine (5-1-3)
Standings
Nashville: 19-16-1 (.542 points percentage — fifth in Central Division, ninth in Western Conference); two points ahead of St. Louis Blues (who have a game in hand) for final wild-card spot in Western Conference, one behind Arizona Coyotes (one) for the first, five back of Winnipeg Jets (three) for third in Central
Washington: 17-11-5 (.591 points percentage — fourth in Metropolitan Division, seventh in Eastern Conference); point behind New Jersey Devils (one) for second wild-card spot, three back of Carolina Hurricanes (three), four behind Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders (two on both) for second in Metropolitan in actual points
Team Leaders
The graph displays at each teams’ player leaders. Nashville left-wing Filip Forsberg is among the league’s best in goals and points this season. Defensemen Roman Josi (15th) and John Carlson (third) are two of the NHL’s top-15 in time-on-ice per game.
Team Statistics
The following chart examines Nashville and Washington’s game averages through Friday’s NHL activity. Washington will have the opportunity to continue their improvement on the power play (20.7% since December 6) against one of the league’s worst penalty-killing units.
The second graph glances at both teams’ underlying statistics at five-on-five up to date this season. Washington’s problems have appeared to have crept into their performance over the last two games.
Injuries/Illnesses
Nashville
- G Kevin Lankinen (illness)
- D Tyson Barrie (upper-body)
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body)
- G Charlie Lindgren (upper-body)
- D Martin Fehervary (upper-body)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
Nashville: Yaroslav Askarov, 21 — 8-6-1, .908 save percentage, 2.45 goals-against average in 15 AHL games; six saves on six shots in 16:40 of Nashville’s 5-2 loss to Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, his lone NHL appearance of the season
Washington: Clay Stevenson, 28 —11-4-0, .931 save percentage, 1.81 goals-against average, four shutouts in 15 AHL games; could make NHL debut
Projected Lines
Nashville
Forsberg – Ryan O’Reilly – Gustav Nyquist
Tommy Novak – Cody Glass – Luke Evangelista
Cole Smith – Colton Sissons – Yakov Trenin
Juuso Parssinen – Michael McCarron – Philip Tomasino
Josi – Dante Fabbro
Jeremy Lauzon – Alexandre Carrier
Ryan McDonagh – Luke Schenn
Askarov
Juuse Saros
Scratched: LW Kieffer Sherwood
Washington
Ovechkin – Connor McMichael – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Strome – Anthony Mantha
Max Pacioretty– Evgeny Kuznetsov – Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Trevor Van Riemsdyk – Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Ethan Bear
Joel Edmundson – Nick Jensen
Stevenson
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: LW Ivan Miroshnichenko, D Alexander Alexeyev, C Hendrix Lapierre
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Nashville: -110, Washington: -110
Over-under: 6 (-120 over, +100 under)
By Harrison Brown