The Nashville Predators look to earn another win tonight at home against the Washington Capitals by recreating Thursday night's success.
The Nashville Predators put together their most complete game of the season so far on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues. They will look to repeat that level of performance as they take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals tonight at Bridgestone Arena.
After struggling through a five game losing streak, the Preds were able to clean up several issues that cost them wins during their stretch of disappointing games. John Hynes made key lineup changes before the Blues game that paid off, and Hynes will go with the same roster this evening.
Last year's offensive giants, Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene will play with Ryan Johansen on the top line, while Mikael Granlund, Cody Glass, and Nino Niederreiter will round out the top six forward group. The Herd line of Yakov Trenin, Colton Sissons, and Tanner Jeannot make up the third "identity" line. The fourth line, which has seen several iterations so far this season, will be Michael McCarron, Cole Smith, and Zach Sanford.
Eeli Tolvanen and Kiefer Sherwood are healthy scratches again tonight.
John Hynes will also keep the defensive pairings the same from Thursday night. Hynes separated Mattias Ekholm and Ryan McDonagh and instead focused on putting together a more veteran defenseman with a younger blue liner to balance the defense. The pairs will be Josi/Fabbro, Ekholm/Carrier, and McDonagh/Lauzon.
The Washing Capitals enter the game 4-4 and are coming off a shut out loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Caps' standout Alex Ovechkin has 3 goals and 3 assists in his 8 games this season, including a four point game against the Vancouver Canucks. Ovechkin's line mates, Dylan Strome and Conor Sheary have combined for 5 goals and 6 assists as well, making that top line an offensive threat the Predators must contain if they hope to earn another two points tonight.
The Capitals have plenty of depth scoring as well with players like T. J. Oshie, Anthony Mantha, and Nic Dowd also collecting goals in the first month of the regular season.
Nashville will need solid goaltending from Juuse Saros who looked more like the Vezina finalist in Thursday night's game against the Blues than he has yet this season. Nashville will be facing Darcy Kuemper in net for the Caps. Kuemper has been a thorn in the Predators side since his time in Arizona when Kuemper's play in net kept Nashville from advancing in the bubble playoffs. Kuemper frustrated the Preds again last postseason for the Colorado Avalanche before joining the Capitals in the offseason.
Nashville's success Thursday night is a recipe they want to recreate tonight to get a win against this Washington team. The Preds will need to generate high danger chances, be active in front of the net to capitalize on any rebound chances Kuemper may allow, and execute cleanly with the puck.
Staying out of the penalty box will also be key. The Capitals have a 22% power play success, and Ovechkin is dangerous once the Caps establish possession on the man advantage. Nashville's power play has looked good but has only resulted in three power play goals so far this season. If given the opportunity to play a man up, the Preds will need to find the back of the net.
Nashville and Washington face off tonight at 7:00 pm CST at Bridgestone Arena. The game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game will have the call locally.