Washington Capitals (27-13-5 59pts) v. Nashville Predators (27-16-4 58pts)
Game Recap:
To start this game, there was some good pace between both the Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators, but it would be the Predators who would strike first when they pick off a pass from Tom Wilson to Alex Ovechkin and Mattias Ekholm sends Viktor Arvidsson streaking into the Capitals zone for the first goal of the game. The Capitals would respond well with a couple shifts, but their aggressiveness caused them to give up a few too many odd man rushes and the Predators would capitalize as Nick Bonino would score to make it 2-0 on a 2-1 break with Colton Sissons. The rest of the period would show some more good back and forth, but the Predators were very good at creating odd man rushes, and breaking up the Capitals plays in the offensive zone.
To start the second period, the Predators would strike fast as Arvidsson would deflect a PK Subban point shot for his second goal of the game. Then some frustration would boil over as Jakub Vrana would get called for Slashing in the neutral zone behind the play to give the Predators the first powerplay of the game. Once the penalty was killed the Capitals would surge with a really strong shift that featured Wilson almost scoring but getting the post instead, and eventually drawing a penalty against the Predators for their first powerplay of the game. On the powerplay the Capitals would make the penalty killers move around and scramble, and then it would be a point blast from John Carlson that would go wide on purpose for Nicklas Backstrom to tip in for the powerplay goal. The Capitals would keep that fire burning as they would dominate at 5 on 5 for the next few shifts, and draw another tripping penalty on the Predators to go back on the powerplay. However, a horrible zone entry by Backstrom would result in Ryan Johansen chipping the puck up to Arvidsson who would score his second breakaway goal for the hat trick. Then on a one on one play into the zone, despite Jonas Siegenthaler’s best efforts, Rocco Grimaldi would make a really good move and an even better backhand shot to beat Pheonix Copley to make it 5-1. Then in the wanning seconds of the second period, Nick Bonino would tip in a point from Mattias Ekholm to make it 6-1.
The 3rd period happened. Cool if we don’t talk about it? Yea… Thanks for understanding.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Dmitrij Jaskin — Nic Dowd — Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Jonas Siegenthaler
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Devante Smith-Pelly, Chandler Stephenson, Madison Bowey
Injured: Christian Djoos (thigh)
Nashville Predators:
Filip Forsberg — Ryan Johansen — Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala — Colton Sissons — Craig Smith
Calle Jarnkrok — Nick Bonino — Austin Watson
Ryan Hartman — Frederick Gaudreau — Rocco Grimaldi
Roman Josi — P.K. Subban
Mattias Ekholm — Ryan Ellis
Dan Hamhuis — Yannick Weber
Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne
Scratched: Zac Rinaldo, Matt Irwin, Anthony Bitetto
Injured: Miikka Salomaki (upper body), Kyle Turris (lower body)
First Period:
Predators Goal – 3:45 – Viktor Arvidsson (15) from Mattias Ekholm (29) and Filip Forsberg (9)
Predators Goal – 10:33 – Nick Bonino (10) from Colton Sissons (12)
End of 1st – WAS – 0 NAS – 2
Shots 08 09
Faceoffs 10 07
Hits 09 05
PP 0/0 0/0
Second Period:
Predators Goal – 1:21 – Viktor Arvidsson (16) from PK Subban (14) and Ryan Johansen (33)
Capitals Penalty – 1:55 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Slashing
Predators Penalty – 6:01 – PK Subban 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals PPG – 7:07 – Nicklas Backstrom (12) from John Carlson (37) and Alex Ovechkin (19)
Predators Penalty – 11:41 – Calle Jarnkrok 2 minutes for Tripping
Predators SHG – 12:08 – Viktor Arvidsson (17) from Ryan Johansen (34)
Predators Goal – 14:57 – Rocco Grimaldi (4) from unassisted
Predators Penalty – 16:08 – Austin Watson 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Penalty – 16:08 – Tom Wilson 5 minute major for Fighting
Capitals Penalty – 17:05 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Hooking
Predators Goal – 19:54 – Nick Bonino (11) from Mattias Ekholm (30) and Ryan Hartman (7)
End of 2nd – WAS – 1 NAS – 6
Shots 18 20
Faceoffs 17 21
Hits 17 10
PP 1/2 0/2
Third Period:
Capitals Penalty – 4:54 – John Carlson 2 minutes for Slashing
Predators Goal – 7:56 – Calle Jarnkrok (8) from Kevin Fiala (20)
Capitals Penalty – 7:56 – John Carlson 2, 10, and Game for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
Predators Penalty – 15:24 – PK Subban for Misconduct
Capitals Penalty – 15:24 – Tom Wilson for Misconduct
Capitals Goal – 16:11 – TJ Oshie (14) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (30) and Jakub Vrana (11)
Capitals Penalty – 18:58 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Slashing
End of 3rd – WAS – 2 NAS – 7
Shots 28 29
Faceoffs 30 28
Hits 27 12
PP 1/2 0/5
Next Up:
Washington (27-14-5 59pts) v. NY Islanders (26-15-4 56pts)
Nashville (28-16-4 60pts) v. Winnipeg (30-14-2 62pts)
