The Washington Capitals have been outscored a combined 10-2 since returning from their Christmas break. Now, they will look to get back on track against the Nashville Predators, who handled them 3-1 at Bridgestone Arena exactly two weeks ago.
The Capitals will see Ethan Bear make his season debut and turn to Hunter Shepard in net as Charlie Lindgren is hurt and Darcy Kuemper played nearly all of the team’s 5-1 loss to the Islanders last night.
In a late development, Evgeny Kuznetsov will play on the wing of the first line. Will it spark his play and the Caps? We’ll see.
Tonight’s game is on Monumental Sports Network. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin have the call. Puck drop is a little after 7:00 pm.
Warning: it’s a blue uni night
— RMNB (@rmnb) December 30, 2023
Lines
Alex Alexeyev is the only scratch.
Lineys!#CapsPreds | @JackDaniels_US pic.twitter.com/Jd507238J4
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 30, 2023
Tunnel weirdness
🐻sy‼️#ALLCAPS | @CaesarsSports pic.twitter.com/7MorKvTPn2
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 30, 2023
1st Period
Hunter Shepard will oppose Yaroslav Askarov in net. Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK and Edmundson-Carlson get the start.
🚨 1-0 Predators. Luke Evangelista gets the Preds on the board first 2:44 into the game. It’s a shooting gallery early. Caps defense continues to struggle.
Alex Ovechkin to the box for cross-checking Filip Forsberg.
🚨 2-0 Predators. Roman Josi scores on the resulting power play. Unguarded (Malenstyn, Dowd), he skated across the high slot and fired an easy shot past a screened Shepard. That’s his sixth goal ever against the Capitals.
🚨 2-1 Predators. Beck Malenstyn gets one back for the Caps. An indirect shot by TVR to Dowd ricochets off a Preds defenseman and is saved by Askarov. Malenstyn finds the rebound and fires it home. It’s his third of the season. His goal comes at the 10:25 mark.
Tom Wilson and Michael McCarron jawed each other at center ice during a break in play. They dropped the gloves with 3:45 remaining in the 1st. A Wilson overhand right sent McCarron tumbling to the ice. As they were separated by refs, McCarron got a cheap shot in. Tom was irate.
Huge hit by Joel Edumdson to end the period. Connor McMichael and Alexandre Carrier then angrily wrestled each other after the buzzer, taking each other down to the ice. When McMike got up, he kicked Carrier’s stick away as it lay near the fray.
The Capitals outshot the Predators 13-11 in the first period and out-attempted them 23-20 at five-on-five.
2nd Period
Puck is dropped.
Ethan Bear hits the post but Askarov falls down and does a snow angel to keep the puck from trickling over the goal line.
Capitals go to the power play after Evangelista goes to the box for holding.
🚨 2-2 tie. Alex Ovechkin scores career goal number 829 on Askarov!
Alex Ovechkin scores 829th career goal after huge one-timer beats Yaroslav Askarov
3rd Period
Puck is dropped.
🚨 3-2 Caps. OVI SCORES WITH 59.5 SECONDS LEFT ON A DELAYED PENALTY CALL. Dowd bumped the goalie. The goal is taken away for goaltender interference. NO.
The delayed penalty call is now a reality. Caps go to the power play. Luke Schenn to the box for hooking NAK.
Overtime
Wild overtime period, but no one can score. To the shootout we go.
Shootout
Kuzy can’t score on his slothnetsov move.
Nyquist comes down the left wing and beats Shepard to the far side corner. 1-0 Preds.
Ovi stopped as he goes five hole.
Ryan O’Reilly beats Shepard to the far corner. 2-0 Preds. They win the shootout.
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