First Period
The early pace was intense, Nashville holding the early edge
in shots and shot attempts. The Caps
slowly tilted the ice the other way and took a lead as a result of excellent
pressure around the Nashville net. John
Carlson worked the puck around a couple of defenders on the right side before
sliding the puck across the slot to Garnet Hathaway to goalie Pekka Rinne’s
right. Hathaway received the puck on his
backhand and, without a clean path for a shot, sent the puck back into the
middle where Lars Eller had a slam dunk from the top of the crease at the 9:17
mark.
Nashville tied the game less than 90 seconds later when he
got free behind the Caps defense and roofed a backhand over the glove of goalie
Braden Holtby and under the crossbar to make it 1-1, 10:39 into the period.
The teams exchanged power plays after the mid-point of the
period, the Caps failing to convert a Craig Smith tripping call and Nashville
failing to make good on a Radko Gudas tripping call. The Caps did have a shorthanded chance on the
Nashville power play, but Carl Hagelin could not convert a Lars Eller feed. Nashville got another power play chance when
Evgeny Kuznetsov went off on a slashing call with 2:07 left in the period, but
the Caps killed that off to go to the first intermission tied, 1-1.
-- The Caps did not get their first shot attempt of the
period until the 2:31 mark, a Radko Gudas miss, while their first shot on goal
was recorded by Evgeny Kuznetsov 5:01 into the period.
-- Eight minutes into the period, Braden Holtby robbed Matt
Duchene at the left post, and then he got his pad down to keep Duchene from
tucking the loose puck inside the near post.
-- Lars Eller was the only Capital with two shots on goal
for the period; Radko Gudas led the Caps with three shot attempts (one on goal,
two misses)
-- The Caps had nine shots on goal and 15 attempts for the
period, trailing the Preds in both categories (13 shots/20 attempts)
Second Period
Washington got an early opportunity with a man advantage
when Colton Sissons high-sticked Jonas Siegenthaler. The Caps converted, John Carlson feeding a
pass to Alex Ovechkin for a one-timer from The Office that beat Rinne through
the pads 4:46 into the period.
Nashville tied the game when Ryan Johansen corralled a pass
from Viktor Arvidsson and swatted a bouncing puck past Holtby at the 7:37 mark.
The goal seemed to give the Preds a jolt, their level of pressure
increasing and pinning the Caps in their own end. The attack forced a Caps penalty in front of
the net, Grnet Hathaway going off for interference 11:03 into the period. It was the Caps who converted, though. Tom Wilson carried the puck through the
neutral zone with Chandler Stephenson on a 2-on-1 break. Wilson skated down the left side, looked off
Rinne as if he was going to pass to Stephenson, and snapped the puck high over
Rinne’s glove on the far side to make it 3-2 at the 12:28 mark. The Caps closed out the remainder of the
Predator power play with no damage done.
Alex Ovechkin drew a Nashville penalty with some slick stick
work to get around to Predator defenders, the second one – Roman Josi –
tripping Ovechkin. The Captain made them
pay with the 32,904th one timer of his career (or so it seems)
sailing past Rinne at the 17:36 mark to make it 4-2. That would be how the teams went to the
second intermission.
-- Ovechkin had two shot attempts, two shots on goal, and
two goals for the game through two periods.
-- Nick Jensen and Chandler Stephenson were the only Caps
without a shot attempt through 40 minutes.
Jensen did have two blocked shots from the blue line to lead the team
through two, and Stephenson had an assist on the Wilson goal and was plus-1.
-- Lars Eller led the Caps with three shots on goal through
two periods. Carl Hagelin led the team
with four attempts.
-- Nashville had a 22-16 edge in shots through two periods
and a 41-31 advantage in shot attempts.
-- Jakub Vrana had only nine shifts through two periods,
tied with Brendan Leipsic for fewest for the Caps through 40 minutes.
Third Period
Nashville halved the lead just over five minutes into the
period off a goal mouth scramble on a power play, Ryan Johansen stuffing the
puck under Holtby just before Holtby was pushed into the net. Just 70 seconds later, it was tied, the Caps
suffering the effects of not being able to clear the puck from their own zone
against the top Nashville line. Filip
Forsberg worked his way into a shooting position at the edge of the left wing
circle, but dialed a pass to Matt Duchene, who snapped the puck past Holtby
inside the near post to make it 4-4, 6:13 into the period.
T.J. Oshie put the Caps back in front. Off a turnover at the Nashville blue line,
Dmitry Orlov skated the puck thorugh the left side to the high slot and opened
his stick as if to shoot. Instead, he
slid the puck to Oshie on his right, who buried a shot on the long side of
Rinne to make it 5-4, 10:090 into the period.
Nashville tied it yet again late in the period. From below the goal line to Holtby’s left,
Colton Sissons sent the puck to the crease.
Carl Hagelin tried to tie up Nick Bonino but did not get enough of his
stick to prevent Bonino from flicking the puck off the near post, off Holtby,
and into the net at the 15:20 mark.
The Predators took their first lead of the game less than a
minute later. Mattias Ekholm scored for
the Preds with an assist from Calle Jarnkrok.
It would be the last lead change, the Preds holding off the Caps in the
last minute when Washington had an extra skater and a power play for a 6-on-4
advantage. It would be a 6-5 final.
Other stuff…
-- Nicklas Backstrom played in his 900th career
game, the fifth player in Caps history to do so. He joined Alex Ovechkin (1,089), Calle
Johansson (983, Peter Bondra (961), and Kelly Miller (940) in the “900 Club.”
-- Alex Ovechkin’s second period goal was his first career
point against Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne.
That might be quite as big a deal as it sounds, since this was only the
seventh appearance Rinne has made against the Capitals in his career.
-- That power play goal by Ovechkin moved him past Luc
Robitaille for fourth place in career power play goals.
-- Ovechkin’s second goal made it 133 career multi-goal
games and counting.
-- Ovechkin recorded his 21st career multi-power play goal
game tonight. That ties Luc Robitaille
and Brendan Shanahan for sixth since 1970-1980 (edit: corrected for ranking).
-- Tom Wilson’s shorthanded goal was the Caps’ first of the
season, in Game 5 The Caps did not score
their first shorthanded goal last season until Game 25, also by Tom Wilson, in
a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on November 30th.
-- With six goals allowed, it makes 24 goals allowed by the
Caps in Nashville in their last four visits.
-- The four goals allowed in the third period doubled the
Caps total for the young season, bringing the total to eight in five games.
-- The losing streak is now three (0-2-1). The Caps did not have a three-game losing
streak last season until Games 38-40 (0-2-1).
-- Braden Holtby allowed six goals on 38 shots. He is generally a slow starter, but his save
percentage in four starts is .868.
In the end…
In five games, the Caps have been outscored in the third
period, 8-2. They are the only team in
the league (pending later Thursday results) to have lost more than one game
when leading after two periods, their loss total in those situations now at
three (two in overtime). The Caps are
just a mess in their own end, from the goaltender on out. And that just cannot continue. No team in the NHL can outscore their own
poor defense. The Caps are no exception.
