Game #5 Recap: Caps 3 Predators 2 (OT)

The Caps failed to show up for the first half of last night's game but their goalie stood on his head and kept the team in the game. In the end Micheal Nuevirth stopped 37 of 39 shots and was only bested by a deflection and a screened shot. Finally the team showed up in the third period, Alexander Semin scored on the power play and Tomas Fleischmann scored through a maze of players to knot the game at 2-2. In overtime it was the Alex Ovechkin show. AO drew a tripping penalty and assisted on the game-winner. Brooks Laich deflected Ovechkin's slap shot into the net for the win.

Of Note:

• Micheal Nuevirth has started the first five games for the Capitals. He is 4-1-0 with a 0.930 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average. Not bad for the 22-year old.
• The Caps killed off all 6 Nashville power plays. The team killed off the all 21 power plays they have faced this season.
• The Caps power play is starting to come alive. They scored 2 power play goals on 5 chances last night.
• Defensemen Brian Fahey made his NHL debut last night. He would have liked a better game as he was -2 and had a puck go off his skate and into the net for a Nashville score.
• Alex Ovechkin has scored or assisted on all 4 Capitals game-winning goals this season.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Event Summary

Game #5 Preview: Washington Capitals at Nashville Predators

Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN

When:  October 16, 2010 8:00 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 10-5-1-0

Caps Game 5 Record: 7-26-1-1

All-Time vs. NAS: 8-5-1-0

All-Time at NAS: 3-3-1-0

Last Season vs. NAS: 1-0-0

Last Meeting: 10/17/09, WAS 3 NAS 2 (OT-SO)

This Year:

WAS Record: 3-1-0

Standings Points: 6

Division Rank: 2nd

Conference Rank: 4th      

Last Game: 10/13/10, WAS 2 NYI 1

Streak: Win 3

NAS Record: 3-0-0

Standings Points: 6

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 1st    

Last Game: 10/14/10, NAS 4 STL 3

Streak: Win 3

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 22 KNUBLE

Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 14 FLEISCHMANN, 28 SEMIN

Forward Line 3: 25 CHIMERA, 26 HENDRICKS, 16 FEHR

Forward Line 4:17 KING, 15 GORDON, 39 STECKEL

Defense Pair 1: 55 SCHULTZ, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 2: 89 SLOAN, 4 ERSKINE

Defense Pair 3: 27 ALZNER, ??

Goalie: 30 NEUVIRTH

Back-up Goalie: 1 VARLAMOV

Nashville

Forward Line 1: 26 SULLIVAN, 11 LEGWAND, 29 WARD

Forward Line 2: 74 KOSTITSYN, 16 O’REILLY, 27 HORNQVIST

Forward Line 3: 15 LOMBARDI, 9 GOC, 71 DUMONT

Forward Line 4: 22 TOOTOO, 33 WILSON, 10 ERAT

Defense Pair 1: 20 SUTER, 6 WEBER

Defense Pair 2: 51 BOUILLON, 8 KLEIN

Defense Pair 3: 55 O’BRIEN, 4 FRANSON

Goalie: 35 RINNE

Back-up Goalie: 39 LINDBACK

Injuries:

Washington – 3 POTI (lower body) DTD, 10 BRADLEY (lower body) DTD, 90 JOHANSSON (foot) DTD, 52 GREEN (upper body) DTD

NAS – 21 LUNDMARK (groin) IR

Caps Milestones:

Nicklas Backstrom needs 10 assists to reach 200 in his career.

Brooks Laich needs 8 points to reach 200 in his career.

Preview:

The Capitals have not fared well in Game 5 throughout their history. They have won only 7 of the 35 games played, including one win since 1995. While this may not impact tonight’s game in Nashville it is oddly interesting. Breaking this trend will not be an easy task. The predators are 3-0-0 and are in first place in the Western Conference. The Caps will be without the services of defensemen Mike Green who left Wednesday’s game late in the third with an upper body injury. Tom Poti sat out the last two games with an injury and if he cannot go, the Caps will have to recall a player form Hershey. Look for the Capitals to play a simplified game with the depleted defense corps. The Predators are tearing it up on the power play so this will be a good test for the Caps penalty kill that have killed off 15 of 15 chances this season. I think this will be a hardworking game with a lot of back and forth play. The two teams played twice in the preseason so watch for a bit of chippiness. In the end the Caps should find a way to win this one but it will be close.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 NAS 2

Official Preview

Game #9 Recap - Capitals 4 Predators 3 (OT-SO)

The Capitals were without Alex Ovechkin for the first time in 203 games, but that did not stop them from pulling out a 4-3 overtime, shootout victory last night. Alexander Semin continued his hot hand with a goal, an assist and a shootout goal. Semin is now leading the NHL in points and goals. The Caps came out firing in the first period out shooting Nashville 19-4. Three times the Caps took 1-goal leads in the game only to see Nashville come back. In the third period the Caps took 3 minor penalties and were out shot 15-3. Jose Theodore stopped 3 of the 4 Nashville shootout attempts to seal the victory. The Capitals have won 2 in a row in overtime and their last 6 games have been decided by 1-goal.

Of Note:

• Alexander Semin's goal came on the power play. His previous 7 came at even strength. He also set up David Steckel's 2nd shorthanded goal of the season. Semin's 2 points moves him into a tie with Greg Adams for 39th on the Cap's All-Time Points List with 153 points.
  
• Viktor Kozlov started off the scoring with his 1st goal of the season. Mike Green recorded his 4th assist of the year on the goal.
• The Caps were 1 for 5 on the power play and killed 6 of 7 power plays against. For the season the Cap's power play is 17.4% successful and they kill 78.4% of the opposition power plays.
  
• With 32 shots on goal the Cap's have put up at least 30 shots in 8 of their first 9 games. They have given up more than 30 shots only 4 times.
• Sergei Fedorov continued to be productive recording an assist on Semin's power play goal along with Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom has assists in 3 consecutive games.
  
• Mike Green was quite busy last night. Along with his assist, he blocked 4 shots, had 4 takeaways and 4 giveaways, 1 hit, 4 shots on goal, 2 missed shots, and a plus-1 rating.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Event Summary
Shootout Summary

Game #9 Washington Capitals vs. Nashville Predators

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When: October 28, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:

Caps Record on this Date: 5-11-1-0

Caps Game 9 Record: 13-16-3-1

All-Time vs. NAS: 5-5-1-0

All-Time Home vs. NAS: 3-2-0-0

Last Season vs. NAS: 1-0-0

Last Meeting: 3/18/08, WAS 4 NAS 2

This Year:

WAS Record: 4-3-1

Standings Points: 9

Division Rank: 2nd

Conference Rank: 8th

Last Game: 10/25/08, WAS 6 DAL 5 (OT)

Streak: Win 1

NAS Record: 4-4-0

Standings Points: 8

Division Rank: 4th

Conference Rank: 11th

Last Game: 10/25/08, NAS 5 LA 4

Streak: Win 1

Probable Line-Ups:

Washington

Forward Line 1: 21 LAICH, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV

Forward Line 2: 16 FEHR, 91 FEDOROV, 28 SEMIN

Forward Line 3: 14 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 17 CLARK

Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY

Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 52 GREEN

Defense Pair 2: 55 SCHULTZ, 89 SLOAN

Defense Pair 3: 23 JURCINA, 4 ERSKINE

Goalie: 60 THEODORE

Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Nashville

Forward Line 1: 27 HORNQVIST, 19 ARNOTT, 71 DUMONT

Forward Line 2: 28 JONES, 11 LEGWAND, 10 ERAT

Forward Line 3: 29 WARD, 14 BONK, 25 SMITHSON

Forward Line 4: 22 TOOTOO, 12 NICHOL, 74 TARNASKY

Defense Pair 1: 6 WEBER, 20 SUTER

Defense Pair 2: 2 HAMHUIS, 7 DE VRIES

Defense Pair 3: 4 KOISTINEN, 5 ZANON

Goalie: 39 ELLIS

Back-up Goalie: 25 RINNE

Injuries:

Washington – 2 POTHIER (concussion) IR, 3 POTI (groin) DTD, 8 OVECHKIN (personal reasons) DTD

Nashville – 26 SULLIVAN (back) IR, 41 ORTMEYER (knee) IR

Caps Milestones:

Victor Kozlov needs 2 points to reach 500 in his career.

Matt Bradley needs 4 points to reach 100 in his career.

Michael Nylander needs 4 shots on goal to reach 1,600 in his career.

Sergei Fedorov needs 3 penalty minutes to reach 800 in his career.

Preview:

The Capitals return home for a game against Nashville. The Caps were 1-2-0 on their Western road trip and finished the trip with a wild 6-5 overtime victory in Dallas. The team will be without Alex Ovechkin in this game as he has returned home to Russia to be with his ailing grandfather. Brooks Laich has been penciled in for first line duties and Eric Fehr gets the call on the second line. The Caps are still without Tom Poti in the defensive ranks so once again rookie Tyler Sloan will pair with Jeff Schultz. The defense was very suspect on the latest road trip and will be called upon to give a more consistent effort. The power play has a goal in each of the last two games and looks to be a work in progress. Look for the second line to get the Ovechkin treatment and face the number one defensive pair from Nashville. The Caps will try and get more traffic to net on the power play and take more shots. I think this one will be very competitive in the first but the Caps will pull away in the second.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 NAS 3

Official Preview

Game #74 Recap - Capitals 4 Predators 2

Washington started fast and held on late to beat the Predators 4-2 in Nashville last night. Cristobal Huet stopped 24 of 26 shots on the night. The Caps opened the scoring with 3 goals in the first but then took three consecutive penalties and allowed a Nashville goal four minutes into the second period. The Predators pressed the attack for the rest of the game, out shooting the Caps 19-11 in the second and third periods. The Preds drew within on goal at 12:37 of the third and had the momentum when Matt Cooke was called for tripping at 13:23. The Caps were able to kill off the penalty and with the Nashville net emptied for extra attacker, Alex Ovechkin cleared the puck out of the Caps defensive zone. The puck deflected off the boards and trickled into the net for his 58th goal of the season. Did he call bank on that shot? Yeah, he probably did. It was a good win for the Caps who kept pace with Philadelphia, who defeated Atlanta last night. The Caps moved ahead of Buffalo into 9th place in the conference and are 2 points behind Philly. The Caps play in Chicago tonight.

Of Note:

• Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Matt Bradley scored the Capitals' fist period goal. Semin's goal came on the power play. The Caps went 1-3 on the power play on the game and the penalty kill was 4-5.
• Bradley played his 200th game as a Washington Capital.
• Ovechkin assisted on the first two goals of the game. The empty net goal was only the 5th of his career. His 3 points give him a league leading 102 on the season. The goal was also the 300th point of his career.
• The 2 goal margin pushed the Caps overall goal differential to +1 on the season. The Caps have made the playoffs every season their overall goal differential was positive or even. In their history, they have never made the playoffs with a negative goal differential.
• Mike Green and Brooks Laich recored assists in the game. Laich has 6 goals and 8 points in his last 8 games.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Super Stats