Game Recap – 1/29/2020 – Nashville Predators v. Washington Capitals

Nashville Predators (22-19-7 51pts) v. Washington Capitals (34-11-5 73pts)

 

Game Recap:

Playing at home for the first time since the All Star Break, the Washington Capitals would play host to the Nashville Predators and see Alex Ovechkin pay special tribute to basketball legend Kobe Bryant who passed away this past weekend.

 

In the first period the Capitals would get the first powerplay opportunity, but the Predators would kill off the penalty without allowing the Capitals to get many solid chances. However, the Capitals would strike first with Richard Panik’s sixth of the season to take the 1-0 lead, but 47 seconds later Jarred Tinordi would fire a bullet past Braden Holtby to tie the game at one for his first goal of the season. Then the Capitals would find themselves in the penalty box with a Dmitry Orlov holding call, and the PRedators would seize the opportunity on their first powerplay of the game as Mikael Granlund would net his tenth of the season to give Nashville the 2-1 lead, and then would be followed by Rocco Grimaldi’s ninth of the season to grow their lead to two. However, the Capitals would strike as Juuse Saros would mishandle the puck behind the net to Alex Ovechkin as he would knock the puck into the empty net to pass Steve Yzerman on the all time goals list and bring the Capitals back within one.

 

In the second period the Capitals would generate a couple more powerplay opportunities, and also cause the Predators fits in their own zone. First we would see Nick Bonino accidently shoot the puck from behind the net and off of Saros’ skate and into the net to tie the game at three for the Capitals, which would be credited to Panik for his second of the game. Then on their second powerplay of the period Tom Wilson would knock in the rebound to regain the lead for the Capitals and take the 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

 

Then in the third period the Predators would rally as Ryan Johansen would intercept a Braden Holtby outlet pass to kick start the powerplay rush, and then beat Holtby short side to tie the game at four. Then Yannick Weber would blast one past a screened Braden Holtby to take the lead and secure the 5-4 victory over the Capitals.

 

Lineups:

Nashville Predators:

Calle Jarnkrok — Ryan Johansen — Austin Watson

Filip Forsberg — Matt Duchene — Mikael Granlund

Rocco Grimaldi — Nick Bonino — Viktor Arvidsson

Colin Blackwell — Kyle Turris — Craig Smith

Roman Josi — Yannick Weber

Mattias Ekholm — Dante Fabbro

Dan Hamhuis — Jarred Tinordi

Juuse Saros

Pekka Rinne

Scratched: Yakov Trenin, Matt Irwin

Injured: Ryan Ellis (upper body), Colton Sissons (lower body)

 

Washington Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie

Carl Hagelin — Lars Eller – Richard Panik

Brendan Leipsic — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen

Jonas Siegenthaler — Radko Gudas

Braden Holtby

Ilya Samsonov

Scratched: Travis Boyd

Injured: None

 

First Period:

NAS Penalty – 6:41 – Jarred Tinordi 2 minutes for High Sticking

WAS Goal – 9:28 – Richard Panik (6) from Carl Hagelin (10)

NAS Goal – 10:15 – Jarred Tinordi (1) from Filip Forsberg (18)

WAS Penalty – 11:02 – Dmitry Orlov 2 minutes for Holding

NAS PPG – 12:52 – Mikael Granlund (10) from Filip Forsberg (19) and Kyle Turris (14)

NAS Goal – 16:02 – Rocco Grimaldi (9) from Roman Josi (35)

WAS Goal – 16:26 – Alex Ovechkin (35) from unassisted

NAS Penalty – 17:35 – Kyle Turris 2 minutes for Hooking

 

End of 1st

 

Second Period:

NAS Penalty – 2:19 – Matt Duchene 2 minutes for Hooking

WAS Goal – 6:01 – Richard Panik (7) from unassisted

NAS Penalty – 9:16 – Mattias Ekholm 2 minutes for High Sticking

WAS PPG – 11:06 – Tom Wilson (16) from Lars Eller (18) and Alex Ovechkin (17)

WAS Penalty – 15:37 – Garnet Hathaway 2 minutes for Tripping

 

End of 2nd

 

Third Period:

WAS Penalty – :35 – Richard Panik 2 minutes for Slashing

NAS Penalty – :35 – Ryan Johansen 2 minutes for Roughing

NAS Penalty – 1:57 – Viktor Arvidsson 2 minutes for High Sticking

NAS SHG – 3:00 – Ryan Johansen (11) from unassisted

WAS Penalty – 11:15 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Slashing

NAS Goal – 15:23 – Yannick Weber (1) from Dan Hamhuis (6) and Ryan Johansen (18)

WAS Penalty – 16:03 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Hooking

 

End of 3rd

 

Next Up:

Washington (34-12-5 73pts) @ Ottawa (18-23-9 45pts)

Nashville (23-19-7 53pts) @ New Jersey (18-24-7 43pts)