Kuemper gets first shutout with Capitals in win against Predators

NASHVILLE --Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves for his first shutout with the Washington Capitals, a 3-0 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

"I was feeling good coming into the game about the way my game has been trending," Kuemper said. "Tonight, the guys did a great job in front of me, so it made my job a lot easier. When you are seeing pucks clean and everything like that, you can kind of get into the rhythm."
Alex Ovechkin,
Beck Malenstyn
and Aliaksei Protas scored for the Capitals (5-4-0), who have won five of their past seven games.
"I liked the directness of the game that we played, the decisions we made with the puck," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "I liked the way we defended. [The Predators] are a physical team. We had to show up and be physically ready, so it was a lot of positives tonight."

Capitals forward T.J. Oshie and defenseman John Carlson left the game after sustaining lower-body injuries in the first period.
"I thought we played really well," Laviolette said. "When you lose one player, it's tough. You are swinging the bench in different ways, but you lose two players, one forward, one defenseman and it's pretty early on in the game, then you are really juggling it for the rest of the game. I thought our guys did an excellent job. We put a lot of minutes on guys, and I thought they responded really well."
Juuse Saros made 32 saves for the Predators (3-5-1), who were shut out for the first time this season and are 1-5-1 in their past seven games.
"It's definitely a disappointing loss," Nashville captain Roman Josi said. "It just wasn't good enough. We didn't start well enough. We didn't start the way we wanted. We knew what our identity was, and we didn't do it in the first period. I thought it got better as the game went on, but we've got to make sure we do it right away."
Malenstyn gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 12:49 of the second period, scoring off a pass from Nic Dowd in the slot.

Protas extended the lead to 2-0 at 6:44 of the third period, swatting a rebound past Saros.
Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal at 17:15 for the 3-0 final.
Kuemper made 11 saves in the first period and 10 in the second, including a stop on Nashville forward Filip Forsberg from alone in front at 5:51.
"The first period was a lot of odd-man chances for them," Forsberg said. "But second period we had chances. [Kuemper] made some great saves, obviously. Those are the type of chances that we have to bury in a game that's 0-0 at the time. Obviously, we struggled with that all night."
NOTES:Kuemper's shutout was his 26th in the NHL. ... Ovechkin's goal was his 784th, two behind Gordie Howe (786 with Detroit Red Wings) for the most with one team in NHL history. He is also four away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals (402) in League history. … Laviolette's win was his 722nd, tying him with Alain Vigneault for the eighth in NHL history. … Washington was 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and is 13-for-13 in its past four games.