After a shocking win over the Carolina Hurricanes last night, the Predators hope to steal another two points as they face off against the Washington Capitals.
The Nashville Predators will barely have time to recover from their frenetic win last night over the Carolina Hurricanes before taking the ice tonight at Capital One Arena to face the 22-13-6 Washington Capitals.
Like Nashville, Washington will be playing their second game in a back to back tonight after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets last night 6-2. The Caps are coming off of a terrific December in which the team went 11-2-2, but it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the team. Washington struggled early in the season going 7-10-3 before finishing their next 20 games 14-3-3.
Alex Ovechkin already has 29 goals on the season including 9 power play goals, but he is by no means the only offensive weapon on the Washington roster. 30 year old Conor Sheary and 32 year old Marcus Johansson echo Ovi's "age is just a number" with their 11 and 10 goals so far respectively. Evgeny Kuznetsov has amassed 36 points and Dylan Strome has 31 points in 41 games. There is plenty of firepower in the Caps' bottom six as well.
Nashville is finally finding their offensive groove as Mattias Ekholm, Colton Sissons, and Cody Glass scored in their last two games, but the offensive player to watch for the Preds is undoubtedly Filip Forsberg. Forsberg has 9 points in his last five games, including 6 goals and is a player the Predators will need another big game from tonight against the fifth highest scoring team in the league right now.
Keys to the Game
1. Contain Ovechkin. There is no win against the Capitals if Ovechkin is allowed to roam freely. While the Caps have plenty of offensive weapons, minimizing Ovi and the top line's ability to score will keep Nashville in this game. Look for the line of Nino Niederreiter, Cody Glass, and Mikael Granlund to spend a lot of time on the ice against Ovechkin at five on five.
2. Kevin Lankinen. Juuse Saros definitely earned a night off, so back up Kevin Lankinen will be in net tonight for the Predators. While he may not face 67 shots, he will have his hands full with the Caps who average 3.34 goals for per game. Lankinen will need to come up with big saves to keep this game close.
3. Clean zone exits. The Predators need to get the puck out of the defensive zone responsibly. Turnovers in the defensive zone have cost the Predators in recent games and interrupted potential rush chances from developing. Cleaning up zone exits and getting the puck through the neutral zone will help Nashville on a number of levels in the game tonight.
The Predators take on the Capitals tonight at 6:00 pm CST. Bally Sports South will broadcast the game and 102.5 The Game will have the radio call.
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