The Washington Capitals made the trip to Music City to take on Filip Forsberg and the Nashville Predators. The Caps entered play looking to win just their second in six tries since 2017 inside Bridgestone Arena.
We got zero red lights in the first twenty minutes. Beck Malenstyn opened the scoring in the second after he potted a gorgeous feed from Nic Dowd. Aliaksei Protas slammed home a hard-work marker in front to double that lead. Alex Ovechkin empty netter.
Capitals beat Predators 3-0!
- I thought the Caps had their strongest first period of the season in this one. They created 17 scoring chances at five-on-five and it took a tremendous effort from Preds goaltender Juuse Saros to keep them off the board.
- TJ Oshie and John Carlson both left the Caps bench early on with supposed injury issues and did not return. Oshie has struggled mightily with injury on a regular basis for some time now and Carlson is the team’s biggest minutes eater. Team depth looks like it could be tested yet again.
- Anthony Mantha really had some extra jump. He seemingly does this for stretches of games so I think they should capitalize on the beginning of a potential hot streak and play him with Alex Ovechkin.
- Shoutout to Dmitry Orlov for taking the bulk of the minutes load with Carlson out. Felt like he never left the ice at some stages and he was absolutely superb. Still one of the more underrated defenders in the league.
oshie and carlson seeing their friends chilling on the injured reservepic.twitter.com/k2LlCZSUJm
— lfc enjoyer (unfortunately) (@OVECHKlN) October 30, 2022
- The second period was a lot less high event and I thought the Caps got a little too loose defensively on a couple of occasions, particularly early on in it. Good thing Kuemper decided to match Saros and came up huge with three or four fantastic stops.
- KP brought this up on Discord a few times during the game but it sure feels like Orlov is a lot less predictable with his delivery on the power play than Carlson. You cannot argue with Carlson’s results from his spot over the years but Orlov did feel like a nice change of pace.
- The ice seemed rather bad in Nashville. That’s kinda what happens when you have a full-on concert on top of it the night before.
- Good to see Beck Malenstyn get on the board. He does seem like a perfect fit for that fourth line. I would be very, very surprised if he returned to Hershey again this season.
@rmnb can you use one of these pics for your article? pic.twitter.com/ezb0rwxiYf
— kevkev (@theculturedstud) October 30, 2022
- Darcy Kuemper‘s first shutout of the season and his first as a member of the Caps. He was absolutely locked in. Really awesome to see.
- The Caps penalty kill has killed off 13 straight power plays. Garnet Hathaway had a couple of huge shorthanded blocks in this one. Conor Sheary talked about getting the first extended look of his career on that unit earlier today.
- I love when Aliaksei Protas scores goals. The kid has everything else in his game moving in the right direction. If he adds legitimate finish in front of the net like we’ve seen from both his goals this season…look out. Let’s hope he keeps improving because this team needs some youth to contribute regularly.
- The fourth line had weirdly kinda meh stats on the night but they had multiple, highly impactful shifts in the game. Really great stuff from all three guys there. We don’t get that Protas goal without their work for a minute-plus in Nashville’s zone right before it. Nick Jensen was also excellent on that shift.
Another one on the road #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/kOocdVfMRz
— RMNB (@rmnb) October 30, 2022
The Caps will wrap up their road trip with a Metropolitan Division matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Halloween. Let’s hope it’s a ghoulish evening for the Canes and their fans.
Headline photo courtesy of @csnash22/Twitter
