Tag Archives: nashville predators

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Caps Top Predators, 4-1

Photo courtesy of bridgetds
Mike Knuble has played 1,000 NHL games.
courtesy of bridgetds

The Capitals honored 39-year-old Mike Knuble last night for playing in 1,000 NHL games, then went out and earned a hard fought 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators before a festive crowd at Verizon Center last night. Riding goals from marquee players Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin along with some timely saves by goalie Michal Neuvirth, the Caps played as complete a game as we have seen under new coach Dale Hunter. Continue reading →

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Caps Stumble, Lose to Predators

Photo courtesy of
‘Russia vs. Czech Republic’
courtesy of ‘s.yume’

A beat-up Capitals squad hit Nashville last night and stumbled out with a 3-1 loss to the Predators. Don’t let the score fool you; the game remained scoreless for over 55 minutes. Early in the third, Troy Brouwer wristed a perfectly-placed cross-ice pass from Marcus Johansson past Preds goalie Pekka Rinne and the game looked like it would finally break open in the Caps favor. Thirty seconds later, Martin Erat solved Tomas Vokun and it went downhill from there. Colin Wilson’s game-winning goal came with less than 30 seconds on the clock, and Shea Weber’s empty netter five seconds later was the nail sealing the coffin.

The good:

  • Tomas Vokoun was stellar for most of the evening. Stopping 28 of 30 shots, he was in top form with some specatular saves.
  • The Caps second line (Jason Chimera, Brooks Laich, Alexander Semin) accounted for 14 of the Caps 40 shots.
  • Marcus Johansson and Cody Eakin continue to shine on the third line.

The bad:

  • The power play went 0-for-3; the team has the 7th-best power play in the league.
  • The Caps are now 1-3-1 in their last 5 and 3-5-1 since their red-hot start.
  • The team dominated through two solid periods but once Brouwer’s goal tallied in, it seemed like there was a complete shift in tone. Erat’s tying goal came when the Caps thought there was an offsides but with no whistle, the Predators played on. As a result, Erat scored. The Caps never seemed to recover from that momentary lapse and the Preds made the most of it.

The quote:
“I think guys are as upset as I’ve seen,” said Mike Knuble. “That was frustrating. We really battled to get that lead. They tied it right away, but the least we should have done was force overtime.”

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Caps Need OT to Down Preds

Photo courtesy of
‘Laich vs. Legwand’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

The Washington Capitals finally showed up for their game against the Nashville Predators near the end of the second period. Outplayed for a good portion of the game, the Caps finally got goals from Alexander Semin and Tomas Fleischman to tie it up in the third and force overtime.

Alexander Ovechkin drew a tripping penalty less than two minutes into OT; with Preds defenseman Ryan Suter in the box, Ovie hammered a slap shot near the blue line that Brooks Laich redirected into the net behind Anders Lindback. And just like that, the Caps netted their fourth win in a row and gave Nashville their first loss on the season.

“They outplayed us so badly in the first 27 or 28 minutes of the game,” said coach Bruce Boudreau. “You look up and you see that you’re only down a goal or two goals, you’ve still got a chance. Every time we play these guys is like this. They’re so fast. The fastest team, easily that we’ve seen.” Continue reading →