Caps Tangle With Predators
Caps start two-game weekend homestand on Friday against Nashville
The Caps open up a two-game weekend homestand and finish off a set of back-to-back games when they host the Nashville Predators on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Friday's game against the Preds also kicks off the second half of the season for the Capitals.
On Thursday night in Columbus, the Caps used a four-goal second-period outburst to erase an early 1-0 Blue Jackets lead, cruising to a 6-2 victory in Ohio's capital city. T.J. Oshie scored twice, and Dylan Strome supplied the primary assist on half of Washington's six goals as the Caps earned their seventh straight road victory, setting a franchise record and erasing a mark that was established in 1984 and matched once since, in 2011.
Thursday's game marked the 15th straight contest in which Washington scored at least one goal in the second period, and it was the ninth time in those 15 games that the Caps lit the lamp at least twice in the middle frame. The Caps have outscored the opposition by a combined total of 30-10 in the second period of those last 15 games, dating back to Dec. 5 in Edmonton, which was also the start of their seven-game road winning streak.
"Unfortunately, at least in the last couple [of games], we haven't been playing our best in the first period," says Oshie. "And in turn, I think we've had a little extra motivation coming in for the second, whether that's [Caps coach Peter Laviolette] letting us know that we weren't good enough in the first, or ourselves talking amongst each other and letting each other know that that's not going to cut it.
"But having said that, it's really positive looking forward, that we can, we don't want to, but if we have a bad start we know that we can come back early in the second and not have to wait until late in the game to make a push."
Most of Thursday's game was played at 5-on-5; Columbus had one power play opportunity in the front half of the second period and Washington had a pair of extra-man chances in the third period. As has been the case for the last several weeks, the Caps' special teams were on point. Washington authored a textbook kill, and it seemed to gather momentum in the aftermath.
In the third, the Caps scored on both of their own opportunities, needing only 95 seconds and three shots with which to strike twice with the extra man.
"The kill was good," says Laviolette. "It was just 5-on-5 for the first half of the game for the most part, and then I do think the penalty kill did a really good job. [Columbus has] some dangerous pieces on their squad, but the penalty kill was really good just limiting things, and then with a couple of power play opportunities, were able to push the game out of reach."
After starting the season 7-10-3 in their first 20 games, the Caps hit the halfway mark of the season with 50 points, putting themselves on pace for 100. They're now 15-3-3 in their last 21 games as they enter Friday's game with the Predators.
Following a six-game skid (0-4-2) in the middle of December in which they managed to score a total of just nine goals, the Predators have gotten right since. Nashville has pulled at least a point from seven of its last eight games (5-1-2) since the aforementioned slide, and it has pulled to within three points of the second wild card playoff berth in the Western Conference.
While the Caps were in Columbus taking down the Blue Jackets, Nashville survived a remarkable 67-shot onslaught in a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes in Carolina on Thursday night. Juuse Saros made 64 saves - stopping all 28 shots he faced in the final frame - to help the Preds hand the Canes their second consecutive regulation loss.
On a night in which he was named to the Central Division All-Star squad, Saros tied the third-most saves ever made in a regular season game since the League began tracking that statistic in 1955-56. The last goaltender to make that many saves in a game was Buffalo's Joe Daley, who stopped 64 of the 72 shots he faced in an 8-2 loss to the Bruins at Boston Garden on Dec. 10, 1970, midway through the Sabres' inaugural season in the NHL.
