Caps Face Preds in Nashville

Jan. 15 vs. Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena
Time: 8:00 p.m.
TV:NBCSW
Radio:Capitals Radio 24/7, FAN 106.7
Washington Capitals 27-13-5
Nashville Predators 27-15-4

A night after suffering a 4-1 home ice setback at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, the Caps finish up a set of back-to-back games against the Predators in Nashville. The game will also finish off the 2018-19 season's series between the Caps and the Preds; Nashville took a 6-3 decision from Washington in the District on New Year's Eve.
Washington owned a 3-1 second-period lead over the Preds in that final game of calendar 2018 before Nashville turned the tide with a string of five unanswered goals. That's been a too familiar refrain for Washington of late, and it was the Capitals' undoing in Monday's loss to the Blues as well.

After hopping out to an early 1-0 lead on an Alex Ovechkin power-play goal, the Caps nursed that lead to the first intermission thanks to a number of strong stops by goaltender Pheonix Copley. But the Blues were able to get a couple of easy ones and another on a good bounce early in the second period, striking for three five-on-five goals in a span of just 4:42 in the front half of the middle frame, a period during which the Caps were on the power play for two of those minutes.
The Blues tacked on another goal on a power play in the third, and the Caps never really threatened after the Blues went up by a couple. Washington had a chance here and a chance there, but little in the way of sustained time in the attack zone.
When it was all said and done, the Caps had yielded four unanswered goals to the Blues after owning an early lead for the second time in 11 nights. Washington watched a 2-1 lead in the second period vanish in a 5-2 loss to the Blues in St. Louis on Jan. 3 in their first game of calendar 2019.
"The one positive to a back-to-back is that we have a chance to respond [Tuesday] to a very good team in a tough building to play in," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "That's our approach. We weren't happy with [Monday], and the best way to respond is to play a different style and a different game than we did tonight."

Alex Ovechkin staked the Caps to a 1-0 lead at 7:50 of the first in Monday's game, scoring in trademark fashion, with a one-time blast from his left dot office on the power play. That was the high point of an otherwise dismal first period for the Caps, who didn't have the puck very much and spent far too much time in their own end. On one of those lengthy shifts in their own end, a St. Louis mishandle resulted in a Jakub Vrana breakaway and a chance to go up 2-0, but the puck rolled on him at the last second and his shot sailed high over the net.
Washington was fortunate to foster that 1-0 lead to the first intermission, but the Caps weren't any better in the second. The Blues scored three five-on-five goals in a span of just 4:42 early in the middle period, and the Caps spent two minutes on the power play during that stretch.
Things don't get any easier for the Caps, who now travel to Nashville to face a suddenly hot Preds team. For the capitals, Tuesday's game is their third in four nights and part of a challenging January slate that sees them play a dozen games in just 21 nights with virtually constant travel.
"We know they're a good team," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom of the Predators, "and especially in that building, too. They're going to be fired up, so I think from our standpoint, we've just got to focus on our game. We've got to come out a little better, with a little more intensity from our side. So let's start there, and keep working ourselves into the game."

When the Preds made that New Year's Eve visit to D.C., they were lugging a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) and had dropped 10 straight on the road (0-8-2). Nashville used that game against the Caps to get right; that win started the Preds on a run of seven straight games with a point (5-0-2), a streak that was stopped in a 6-3 Sunday loss to the Hurricanes in Raleigh.
Scoring winger Filip Forsberg was out of the lineup with a hand injury when the Predators were in D.C. last month, but he has been back for four games now and has scored four goals in that span. Forsberg has 18 goals in just 30 games on the season. Nashville is still playing without center Kyle Turris (lower body) and it is also without forward Miko Salomaki (upper body), who scored one of Nashville's goals in its Dec. 31 victory over Washington.
Nashville has claimed five straight victories over the Caps, outscoring Washington by a combined total of 23-12 over that stretch.