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Slow start sinks Niskanen’s return: Predators beat Caps 6-3

By Peter Hassett

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November 14, 2017 11:45 pm

The Capitals and the Predators played three games in one on Tuesday night. What started out as a dreadful bore in the first became a whirlwind in the second and finally resignation in the third. At no point in any of those three mini-games were the Caps ever close to winning this one.

The Caps were outclassed in the opening twenty minutes, wholly without a response to goals from Craig Smith and Nick Bonino.

The Caps found some spirit the in the second, but the Preds got a ton of traffic in front of Holtby to win the frame. Goals from Chiasson and a pair from Oshie weren’t enough to keep up with the Preds, who scored off the sticks of Forsberg, Fiala, Salomaki, and Ekholm.

Philipp Grubauer relieved Braden Holtby in the third, but nothing happened.

Preds beat Caps 6-3.

  • Matt Niskanen returned to action for the first time in a month. I thought Trotz would ease him in with low minutes and light assignments, but those were kind of rare on Tuesday. Niskanen got involved in the offense, committed one penalty, and played a solid game with a full load of ice time. It’s just great to see him back in action. He’s been deeply missed.
  • Meanwhile, Christian Djoos suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return for the third. The Capitals say he will be re-evaluated tomorrow.
  • The Caps were outshot 18 to 3 in the first period (on net). They didn’t challenge goalie Pekka Rinne until Brett Connolly put a puck on net 18 minutes in. So. Yeah.
  • The second period was way more spirited. The two-minute window between Oshie’s first and Chiasson’s goal was as exciting as any two minutes of  the last decade, featuring ten shot attempts and a feeling of inevitability before the bookend goal.
  • Intermission, courtesy of Nashville’s own Paramore, whose latest album has really grown on me.
  • Braden Holtby had an excellent first frame but allowed four goals on seven shots in a chaotic second period. Some of those shots were very difficult tip-ins and deflections, but some were not. Still, Holtby kept the Caps alive in an 18-shot first period. He deserved better than this fate, but it’s probably good for the team not to depend on him every night.
  • Bridgestone Arena was filled with “Holt-byyyyy” chants like 20 or 30 times. The only reason the third period was tolerable was the presence of Philipp Grubauer in net so the Preds fans had no one to taunt.
  • Filip Forsberg scored his 100th goal against the team that drafted him, which is the Capitals, in case you didn’t know.
  • TJ Oshie has nine goals on the season after a two-goal night. He took two shots total. He also high-sticked PK Subban, and I don’t think Subban sold it, to be honest. That’s how I’d react if a stick came out of nowhere to bust my chin.
  • Adding this bullet just because I imagine it’ll come up in comments: Alex Ovechkin led both teams in shots on goal with eight.

Well, that was a crummy game. I admit that I enjoyed the pregame ceremony and everything about PK Subban, but a pitiful start doomed this from the drop. The middle was chaotic, and chaos can be fun, but you can’t build a winning team on chaos.

Speaking of: Avs on Thursday. That’s a winnable one.

Full Coverage of Caps at Predators

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