The Washington Capitals returned to winning ways on Wednesday night, downing the Nashville Predators 3-2 at Capital One Arena. It was the club’s first win at home against Nashville since December 29, 2021.
The win improved the Capitals’ record at home this season to 7-1. All seven wins have come consecutively after they dropped their home opener to the New Jersey Devils.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-11-06:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/0hxKX3mo9R
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- The Capitals didn’t have their best for the full 60 minutes against Nashville but they had enough to eke out the regulation victory. Washington dominated the first period in the regular fashion we’ve come to expect this season, went level with the Predators in the second, and then took the third period off. In the final frame at five-on-five, Nashville had massively positive differentials in shot attempts (+19), scoring chances (+10), and high-danger chances (+5). Washington created just one high-danger chance of their own in the period and it came while up a man.
- However, Alex Ovechkin still scored the only goal in the period, making most of that analysis moot. The goal was the 861st of Ovechkin’s career and leaves him 33 markers shy of a share of the all-time goals record with Wayne Gretzky. Dylan Strome also notched his 200th career assist on the tally.
- Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas just keep on scoring. The two 23-year-olds have scored in the same game four times already this season and are respectively ranked third and fourth on the team in points. McMichael now has 13 points (8g, 5a) through 12 games while Protas has 12 points (5g, 7a).
With their 3-2 win over Nashville, the Capitals extend their home winning streak to seven games (10/15/24-11/6/24: 7-0-0). It marks Washington's longest home winning streak since 2018 (2/24/18-3/28/18: 7-0-0).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 7, 2024
- I remarked out loud to myself during the game that I thought the fourth line was playing too much and it turns out that tracks in the numbers. Nic Dowd (16:31), Taylor Raddysh (15:43), and Brandon Duhaime (15:15) were the only forwards on the team ranked within the top nine Capitals skaters in five-on-five time on ice for this one. There is obviously some matchup stuff going on there but that still feels a little crazy. They weren’t necessarily good either, with Washington giving up a goal with them on the ice and seeing negative differentials in shot attempts (-15), scoring chances (-6), and high-danger chances (-3). Abnormal game all around for the usually excellent unit.
- Logan Thompson was superb in his sixth straight win of the season. The 27-year-old backstop made 33 stops and is now 6-0 on the season with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck, he stopped 1.49 goals above expected. I’ll be interested to see if Spencer Carbery sticks with the alternating goaltender strategy on Friday or if Thompson keeps the net for the first game of the upcoming back-to-back.
- Matt Roy made his return from injury and skated 20:07 of ice time in the win. He recorded his first point as a member of the Caps with an assist on Connor McMichael’s goal. He also fired three shots on goal, threw five hits, blocked three shots, and took a minor penalty.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
