POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Preds 7, Caps 2

Crawling From The Wreckage -When the NHL released its 2018-19 schedule last June, it was obvious right away that January would present some difficult challenges for the Capitals. One of the most pointed of those challenges was a Tuesday night game in Nashville on Jan. 15, the second game in as many nights for Washington and the third game in four nights for the Caps, too.

That's a surface observation from seven months away, but when Tuesday arrived it became clear that the game against the Predators was going to be even more of a handful than it looked like months ago. Nashville was coming in hot (5-1-2 in its last eight) and rested.
That's how it played out, too, as the Preds handed the Caps a 7-2 humbling on Tuesday night in Music City.

A week into the second half of the season, virtually every part of the Caps' game has been sagging. They've been giving up chunks of unanswered goals, they've not been scoring at five-on-five, special teams have been inconsistent. Goaltending had been one of the few bright spots of late; it helped the Caps to a win in Boston last week and was instrumental in picking up a pair of points in recent overtime losses to Dallas and Columbus, too.
When Blue Jackets winger Cam Atkinson got a stick blade into Braden Holtby's mask and scraped his eye midway through Saturday night's game against Columbus, Pheonix Copley came on and performed admirably and capably in relief. Holtby practiced the following day, and Washington figured to have both goaltenders available for an impending set of back-to-backs, on Monday against St. Louis at home and on Tuesday against the Predators in Music City.
But that's not how it went down. Copley started and lost in regulation for the first time in two months on Monday against the Blues, leaving Holtby with the Nashville assignment. The Caps didn't have a morning skate prior to Tuesday's game against the Preds; that's typical for teams playing for the second time in as many nights. Under normal (morning skate) circumstances, the Caps might have known hours earlier that Holtby wasn't up to the task, and they might have been able to get someone - either Vitek Vanecek or Ilya Samsonov - to Nashville from AHL Hershey in time for the game.
As it was, Copley had to take one for the team, playing for the third time in four nights, an extremely rare occurrence for even the most workhorse netminders in the modern NHL.
"We didn't know up until really just a few hours before the game, so we weren't able to bring anybody else in at that time," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "So regardless of the situation we were in, we had to go with Pheonix for the game. So it's a tough spot to put a young goaltender in, in a back-to-back situation where maybe things aren't going his way. Obviously we gave up too many chances, and at times you would have made a change, but that was not something I was able to do this evening. It was a unique situation."

It was ugly from the start. The Caps didn't help Copley at all, giving up odd-man rushes like they were Halloween candy in the first, and the Preds cashed in on two of them. After falling down 3-0 early in the second, Washington got on the board and began to apply some offensive zone pressure on the Predators. The Caps hit the post twice, then got another power play opportunity, and a chance to pull within a goal.
Instead, the Caps turned the puck over at the Preds' line, and Viktor Arvidsson tore off on a breakaway, beating Copley to complete his hat trick and make it a 4-1 contest, and the rout was on.
These lopsided losses where nothing goes right happen to every team a few times every season, and the Caps have had a few of them clustered together lately in the aftermath of a six-week run where virtually everything went their way and they won 16 of 19 games. What's important now is their response over the next four games leading up to the much-needed bye week/All-Star break.
"It's a huge part of our season coming up here with the games that we are going to be playing," says Reirden. "They're going to be a little bit of everything - from the Islanders coming in and playing really, really good hockey, to an 11:30 [a.m.] game in Chicago to back-to-backs [against San Jose and at Toronto]. So we've got a little bit of everything before the break here, so not an easy schedule moving forward.
"But it's something that hopefully when we regroup here we can build some momentum here going into the break and get back to playing our style of hockey. Far too many odd-man chances against, and it put our goaltender - who was playing back-to-backs - in a tough situation."
Center Lars Eller, who was one of the Caps' best players in Tuesday's loss, was one of those who spoke after the game.

"When we're on our game," notes Eller, "we're one of the best teams in the league. I'm confident we can beat any team in the league when we're on our game. Lately, we have not been on our game.
"If you want to look at it - like the last nine games - and try to really look for the negatives, you can choose to do that, or you can look at the season as a whole. We're still in a good spot, we've seen a lot of good hockey from this team, and we're still very confident going forward."
Every regulation loss in the regular season - whether 7-2 or 2-1 - is the same. Every team has 82 chances to get two points, and a regulation loss is a failure to get any, regardless of the score. And to this point of the season, the Caps have 14 of those "failures to get points" in 46 games. Only Tampa Bay (nine) has fewer among all Eastern teams, and only Calgary and San Jose (13 each) have fewer out West.
And the sun came up on Wednesday.
Once Upon A Time In The West -Washington's woes against Western Conference teams continue, as Tuesday's loss leaves them at 8-9-2 against non-conference opponents. Of late, they've been much worse against the West. The Caps are now 1-6-1 in their last eight games against Western foes, and they've been outscored 37-21 in the process.
Higher Power -Nicklas Backstrom scored a power-play goal in the second period of Tuesday's loss, marking the second straight game in which Washington scored with the extra man. It's the first time the Capitals have scored on the power play in successive games in a month, since they went 3-for-4 on the power play on Dec. 14-15 at Carolina and against Buffalo, respectively. With Backstrom's goal against the Preds, the Caps are now 4-for-44 (9.1 percent) with the extra man over the last month.
The 700 Club -Washington winger T.J. Oshie skated in the 700th game of his NHL career on Tuesday against the Preds. Oshie made his NHL debut with the Blues on Oct. 10, 2008, also against Nashville, but in St. Louis. Oshie marked the occasion of his 700th game with a late goal in the third period, his 14th of the season. Oshie now has three goals and five points in his last five games.

By The Numbers - Michal Kempny led the Caps with 22:52 in ice time … Backstrom led Washington with six shots on net and eight shot attempts … Brooks Orpik led the Caps with six hits … Jonas Siegenthaler led the Capitals with seven blocked shots while logging a single-game career high of 19:45 in ice time … Nic Dowd won seven of nine draws (78 percent).