Ovechkin scores twice, hitting 30 goals for 16th time as Caps help Laviolette to his 700th career victory
Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of third-period goals to hit the 30-goal plateau for the 16th time in his 17th NHL season in Nashville on Tuesday night, helping the Caps to a 4-1 win over the Predators. The victory was the 700th victory in the regular season coaching career of Caps coach Peter LaViolet, who had spent more than five seasons as Preds bench boss before moving to Washington.
"For me, the win was really good for our team," says Laviolette. "It's been a bit of a roller coaster, and you leave the Ottawa game [Sunday's 4-1 loss] and you don't feel good about it. You lose a game at home and you want to come back. And want to win the hockey game. And so it ends up as Nashville, and that's just how it was dealt. But it was a good win for our team."
The Caps took an early lead when Dmitry Orlov blocked a Luke Kunin shot into the Washington ice, then ran in a 3-on-1 race with Conor Sheeri as middle man on his right and Joe Snevly on the left. went. Orlov fed Sherri into neutral snow, and Sherri got the Nashville zone on the right. He moved patiently down the right circle before spilling the feed for Snively, who tapped it into the yawning cage for a 1-0 Washington lead.
Later in the first, Nashville Netminder Jus Saros put a tight stop on Sherri to keep the Preds' crunch at one.
Washington lost defenseman Justin Schultz to an upper body injury late in the first period. He retired for the night after working seven shifts totaling 4:50.
Both sides played penalty-free hockey in the first, but both sides had opportunities for unproductive power play in the second. In the back of the mid-frame and early in the third, Prides ironed three times behind Caps goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov, who made 33 saves on the night to improve the season to 16-7-3.
With only four minutes remaining in the second, Filip Forsberg grabbed the far post with a backhander. Not more than a minute later, Luke Kunin of Nashville hit the crossbar on the breakaway, but he "sold" the target to the crowd, the Predators' game operations crew and officers on the ice. Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov tried to play, but officials deadpan the play and, after a cursory video review, he quickly noticed there was no goal.
Early in the third, Roman Josie of Nashville hit a shot that also caught the post. Despite all those close misses, Prades continued and produced a tying goal shortly after Josie caught the pipe early in the third.
Samsonov blocked Josie's shot from the left, but a prone Michael McCarron was able to swat home the rebound at 2:43 of the third period to level the score at 1-1.
Washington came out and got that goal back in the next shift. Orlov and Nick Jensen both made resourceful plays high up in the Nashville ice to keep the puck in the field, and from there it was a ballet of movement and precision for the Caps. Jensen began the scoring game by passing to Karl Hagelin just above the left circle. Hegelin went down to Garnet Hathaway on the left, and Hathaway quickly bumped back to Jensen, who buried it from the slot at 3:27, putting Capps back in the top 2-1.
"It was a really good response and that's what we needed," Jensen says. "I know there's been a series of games where we've taken the lead and we let go of the gas pedal - whether it's in second or third - and it looked like we were going to do that. But that one It was a big innings, we put pressure on them. Even though we didn't get that target, it was a great change to get the momentum back in our side. But the target was obviously really big, and we answered well Gave."
Less than half a minute after Jensen's goal, Nashville's Yaakov Trainin was sent into the box to kneel to John Carlsen in the offensive zone, giving the Washington power play an opportunity to make its mark on the game. Capps did exactly that when Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season, a patent one-timer from the left dot office after a tee-up from Carlsen. The first five minutes followed by a quiet third instead of the first forty minutes, and Washington took a 3–1 lead at 4:33.
From there, the Caps played some road hockey and reduced the clock to just under four minutes. That's when Jensen was boxed in for delaying the game, placing Preds on a late power play and giving him a chance to cut Capps' cushion. But Washington's penalty kill held firm even after Saros went for an extra attacker, giving Nashville a 6-on-4 advantage.
With 1:23 remaining, Ovechkin once again demonstrated his long-range blank net acumen, firing into an empty net from 146 feet to win 4–1, Washington's fourth consecutive road victory.