Hello All,

The Washington Capitals beat the Nashville Predators, the power play scored, and Ovechkin snapped his 6-game scoring drought. All is right in the world again. Lets look at the stats from the game:

Shots on Goal:
WSH – 28
NSH – 34

Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 24
NSH – 29

Corsi For %:
WSH – 40.5%
NSH – 59.5%

Corsi For % (5v5):
WSH – 39.62%
NSH – 60.38%

Power Play:
WSH – 1/4
NSH – 0/2

Hits:
WSH – 21
NSH – 37

Blocks:
WSH – 17
NSH - 9

Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 19
NSH - 29

Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 17
NSH - 25

High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 7
NSH – 9

High Danger Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 7
NSH – 8

Here Are My Takeaways:

The Ilya Samsonov Roller Coaster Ride Continues - In a game where the Caps were largely outplayed (again) , Samsonov came to the rescue. Samsonov was 17 for 17 on low danger saves, 9 for 9 on medium danger saves, and 7 for 8 on high danger saves. The lone goal he allowed was a high danger chance by the Predators. Cant really knock him for that one. All in all, Samsonov was 33/34 with one lone goal allowed. This was a nice bounce back effort after a questionable performance against Ottawa. But that is really who Samsonov is at this point. One game he’s hot, the next game he’s not. It is incredibly frustrating. When he is good, he is great…so ill take it! The Predators hit a number of posts as well this game. They did not get much puck luck last night

Alex Ovechkin Snaps Skid- I was planning to write about how Ovechkin has seemingly gone ice cold during his 6-game…soon to be 7-game scoreless drought. But alas, he scored on the power play! The no-look pass from Carlson to Ovechkin was pretty filthy. It gave Ovechkin just enough space to get the shot off. A lot of teams are just parking a guy in front of Ovechkin there. With his two goals last night, Ovechkin now sits at 31 on the season and 761 in his career. He is 6-goals shy of passing Jagr, 41 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe, and 134 goals shy of catching Wayne Gretzky. This team absolutely needs Ovechkin to heat up again. The offense suffered immensely while he was on his 6-game scoring drought. Congrats on the big night, Ovi!

Joe Snively –Snively scored his 3rd goal of the season and it was a big one to open up the scoring on the road. Just what the Capitals needed. The Caps have a tendency to jump out to a slow start and fall behind early in games. Snively made sure that wasn’t going to happen last night! Snively now has 3-goals and 3-assists in the 8-games he has played this season. I think Snively should stay up with the Caps for the rest of the season. He is a dynamic player with speed and skill. He is very noticeable on the ice all game. Give this guy more ice time!

The Power Play Scored – Lets all celebrate! The Caps still generally lost on the power play at times but at least they were able to convert last night. I wont over analyze it other than just point out that just scoring in itself should give the boys some confidence moving forward. That is now back to back games with a PPG. Its not much but for us in Caps world that is massive.

The Capitals Were Outplayed – All is well when the Caps when but when you really look at the stats, the Capitals were largely outplayed this game. The "Corsi For %" was largely in Nashville's favor for all strengths and 5v5. The Predators hit countless posts and simply did not convert on some prime chances. Samsonov played great, but the Caps also got a little lucky last night. We all know we can not consistently rely on goaltending with this Caps team. Had they played this game against a team like Florida, Carolina, Pittsburgh, or New York (Rangers), the Caps likely lose more often than not. Lets celebrate the win but also recognize the Caps still have a lot of work to do.

Very Honorable Mention- With last night's win, Peter Laviolette has become the 10th head coach in NHL history to reach the 700 win milestone. Among the head coaches in the top-10 in wins, Laviolette's .593 points percentage ranks fifth. And since he made his NHL coaching debut on Oct. 5, 2001, Laviolette ranks fourth in the NHL in games coached (Trotz: 1,526; Joel Quenneville: 1,399; John Tortorella: 1,336). -@CapitalsPR Twitter Page. Congrats!

Next Up, The Capitals travel to Philadelphia to face the Flyers. The Flyers just blew a 2-goal third period lead to the Penguins and ultimately lost in OT. Their moral might be a little low. The Caps need to jump on them early!

That is all! Thanks for reading and GO CAPS!

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Stats/Facts/Video Clips Provided By:

nhl.com/stats
hockey-reference.com
naturalstattrick.com
@CapitalsPR Twitter page
@Capitals Twitter page
@HerseyBears Twitter page

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Follow me on Twitter @HB_Capitals

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