Washington Capitals vs. Nashville Predators 4-1 -NHL Tuesday night Match Analysis
Alex Ovechkin finally looked like a captain when he took lead on Tuesday night in their matchup against Nashville by picking up a goal of his own and setting his teammates up to find opportunities as Washington Capitals dominated the Predators, 4-1, on December
20, 2011 at the sold out Verizon Center in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.
Seeing their captain full of confidence and enthusiasm, the Washington players also got the much needed boost to take down the Predators who were on a five game winning streak, now having it snapped by a disappointing loss against the Capitals who have been
struggling throughout the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
Washington is now on the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff line with 35 points at the ninth position, below the eighth place Ottawa Senators by one point.
Nashville Predators on the other hand stand seventh in the Western Conference with San Jose Sharks on their tale by being a point below them with 37.
"When your top end guys score the confidence goes up for the rest of the bench," newly hired Capitals coach, Dale Hunter, about Ovechkin said. "The big guys scored."
Alex Ovechkin kicked off the scoring with his 11th of the regular season nearly midway through the opening period while Nicklas Backstrom added another for the Capitals with less than five minutes remaining to extend the Washington lead to 2-0
entering the second period.
"He's been solid," Washington’s Troy Brouwer, said about their goalie, Michal Neuvirth. "He makes it easy for us to play in front of him. We know if we do make a mistake he's going to be there for us."
Neuvirth and Nashville goalie, Anders Lindback, faced nearly the same amount of shots during the 60-minute contest but the former managed to stay strong in the net by only falling short on one to block the other 20 attempts on his net.
Nashville had a couple of golden opportunities to rebound during the second period when Washington gave three straight penalties at different intervals throughout the round but the Predators could not penetrate the Capitals defensive mechanism, giving them
an even harder time in the third and final 20 minutes of regulation.
"We didn't give enough run support for Lindy," Nashville coach, Barry Trotz, said. "When it was 2-1, we had lots of chances to tie it up, and we didn't."
Predators answered back as Shea Weber gave Sergei Kostitsyn the puck 4:40 into the third period which he fired off for their first of the night, which would also turn out to be their final goal.
Alexander Semin broke the Nashville momentum with his seventh of the season midway through the third while Troy Brouwer secured the match on a power play opportunity of their own at the 13:19 mark with Predators losing Craig Smith to a minor penalty for
holding.
Marcus Johansson also deserved praise after the contest for his two assists in the night which were crucial for Washington’s survival and the down-play of the Predators.
Washington will certainly look forward to continuing with this new found momentum of their as they face the New Jersey Devils on Friday while the Nashville Predators look to host the Columbus Blue Jackets a day earlier on Thursday to get back at their winning.
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