The Washington Capitals will try to win back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 3 when they visit the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.
Both teams are coming in off games against the Chicago Blackhawks. Washington posted a 5-1 victory over Chicago on Friday night before the Blackhawks bounced back for a 3-0 road win against the Predators on Saturday.
Nashville outshot Chicago 36-21 but were shut out by Drew Commesso, who was playing in his fourth NHL game. Juuse Saros made 18 saves for the Predators.
After a scoreless first period, Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the second and another goal midway through the third before finding the empty net to seal the win.
“Definitely not our best,” Nashville captain Roman Josi said. “Kind of just felt like it was just a 50-50 game. Kind of left it up to chance. They got that first one, and we just never got to our game really — maybe for a couple minutes, but not for a long period.”
Nashville has alternated wins and losses over its past six games heading into the final two contests on a four-game homestand.
“We’ll look at what needs to be looked at from tonight, and then cut it loose,” Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague said. “At the end of the day, we know what makes us good, and we were just off a little bit tonight. So, it’s a good opportunity to come back and turn the page and show up with a better effort (on Sunday).”
Washington won six straight games from Nov. 24-Dec. 3 to improve to a season-best 17-9-2. Since then, they have gone 6-7-4 and have not posted consecutive wins. They are, however, coming off one of their best efforts of the season on Friday.
Superstar captain Alex Ovechkin scored his fourth goal in three games, Connor McMichael had a goal and an assist and Ryan Leonard joined defensemen John Carlson and Martin Fehervary in notching two assists against the Blackhawks.
Logan Thompson, recently named to the Canadian Olympic team, made 23 saves to snap a four-game winless skid (0-3-1).
“Yeah, I feel like I was cursed for a while,” Thompson said. “I’ve been feeling pretty good about my game. I couldn’t find a way to get a point or even two points. Really happy. The guys in front of me were tremendous tonight, made my life easy. Just happy with the two points.”
The Capitals may have had another force at work on Friday night as this two-game road swing is their annual mentors trip.
According to the Washington Post, the Capitals improved to 21-9-0 in games with their mentors on hand.
“When they have to answer to ‘Dad’ about their individual game and how the game went, that’s the real — so we try to do our best to put a good show on and make sure we’re playing the right way,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said.
Forward Aliaksei Protas was plus-1 in 16:12 of playing time in his return after missing three games due to a lower-body injury.
Thompson is 5-1-0 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in six career games versus the Predators.
Nashville’s Justus Annunen allowed three goals on six shots in his only career appearance versus Washington.
The teams are meeting for the first time this season.
–Field Level Media
