Plus: The Washington Capitals scored a 5-on-3 goal! TJ Oshie did not let the two-man advantage go to waste in the second period and scored his second goal of the season. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, and Dylan Strome were all crowding the front of the net, and Oshie was able to capitalize on a rebound chance.
Minus: Only one of these teams played last night, and looking at the first period you’d probably guess it was the Capitals. The Caps had the opportunity to take advantage of a less-rested Predators team that went to overtime in Carolina last night, but it was the Preds that came out flying to start the game. Colton Sissons got Nashville on the board with a PPG just 5:03 into the game, and the Capitals were outshot 8-4 in the first period.
Key Moment: The Capitals strung together some of their best shifts of the season about halfway through the second with the top line absolutely dominating play, so it’s only fitting that they immediately gave up a breakaway goal on a defensive miscue.
Caps Player of the Game: Charlie Lindgren did his absolute best trying to keep his team in the game tonight. He had some particularly great saves in the third period, apparently singlehandedly trying to fuel a Capitals’ comeback effort.
Final Thoughts: Coming into tonight, the Capitals have scored one or zero goals in all eight of their regulation losses this season. Well, make it all nine after tonight! Juuse Saros has been one of the hottest goalies in the league lately, and he kept that momentum going against Washington. To be fair though, the Caps didn’t really test Saros too much—they put up just 22 shots and one goal on a team that played OT hockey on the road last night.
All in all, was it a bad performance from Washington? Not necessarily. And were they going up against one of the best teams in the league right now? For sure.
Up next for the Capitals: a trip to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow night at 6pm ET.