Photo: X/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals ended 2023 in dramatic fashion, but unfortunately they are headed into 2024 with four straight losses. The Capitals fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Nashville Predators. A game where they got off to another dreadful start, going down 2-0 early in the first, but climbed their way back to tie the game. </a
Then, Washington thought it had put the nail in the coffin late in regulation. Alex Ovechkin, who scored the tying goal in the second period, scored his second goal of the game to give the Caps a 3-2 lead with 59 seconds left.
However, the goal was called back due to a questionable goaltender interference call. The review was initiated from the situation room in Toronto and the call was overturned.
While that call ultimately cost the Caps two points heading into the new year, Nashville outplayed Washington and Hunter Shepard was the reason why the game even went beyond regulation. Though the Caps did once again play well enough to win, they struggled to earn consistent stretches of sustained offensive zone time.
“When you’re tied in those games, it has nothing to do with scoring or generating scoring chances. It’s [about] controlling play. It’s just getting the puck on their half and keeping it there. And then all of a sudden, your next shift, your next line, they keep it there,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after the game. “I felt like there was probably eight shifts in a row where we’re in our end, and now we’re trying to flip that momentum.”
Here is what stood out.
Too Many Odd Man rushes; Too Much Inside Presence
The Capitals once again struggled to contain odd-man rushes. The Predators were able to sneak behind Washington’s defensemen numerous times and even when the Caps started to play on their toes, Nashville still was able to gain the extra step on the Capitals’ defense.
The Predators at one point even had a three-on-one break.
Furthermore, the Predators were able to get in front of the net too easily. Both goals in the first period were because of traffic in front of Shepard, which made him late to react. There were also two wild netmouth scrambles in the third period because of how weak the Caps were defensively in the high-danger areas.
The defensive structure is something that has been lacking since the Caps came back from the holiday break.
Fourth Line Supremacy
The fourth line of Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd and Nicolas Aube-Kubel was utilized heavily in what was a very physical affair. Carbery put that trio up against Nashville’s top line of Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist. Right from the drop of the puck they were engaged, and they got the game’s first goal.
Malenstyn was terrific on the forecheck, and his goal started because of his hard work. He hunted after a loose puck and the Caps were able to set up shop in the offensive zone. Once the puck got up to Trevor van Riemsdyk, he threw the puck on net and Malenstyn was in front of the net to bury the rebound.
“We had a focus today of sending more pucks towards the net with body presence there and fortunately [I was] on the right side of that one,” Malenstyn said after the game.
The checking line ended the game with five scoring chances, three of which were high danger, through 11:27 of ice time.
Shep Daddy
If there was a record for how many times a player has been called up and sent down, it would belong to the reigning Calder Cup Playoffs MVP.
“That’s part of the job. Coming up, going down, it’s just part of it,” Shepard said. “[When] you get sent up you gotta be ready, when you get sent down what you need to do in Hershey.”
After a slow start to the game, the 28-year-old netminder started to dial in and had some incredible saves to keep the Capitals in the game. No save was bigger than with three minutes to go in the second period. Filip Forsberg fed the puck across to Tommy Novak and Shepard denied him with the glove. That was just one of a few ten-bell saves.
WHAT A SAVE BY HUNTER SHEPARD pic.twitter.com/ehPSY23NPL
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 31, 2023
“When the pass slid across, it was kind of slow. So it wasn’t like I had to get there right now, so it gave me a little bit of time to slide over, but it was nice,” Shepard said. “The way we played it, it was either kind of force him to make a play, so I can get going a little bit so I can let him do whatever. So, when there’s a read to be made, it makes it a lot easier for me.”
Shepard ended the evening with 34 saves on 36 shots. He will likely continue to remain with the Caps with Charlie Lindgren sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Notable Numbers and Observations
- Ethan Bear looked solid in his Capitals debut. He played 20:05 of ice time and had two shots on goal
- The Capitals were 0-for-3 on the man-advantage
- Washington had 13 giveaways
- With this loss, the Capitals are now 6-1 in the second leg of a back-to-back.
- Capitals had 11 high danger chances, seven of which in the first period at 5v5.
- The Caps had 18 hits
The Capitals will begin 2024 another back-to-back slate beginning with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 2 at PPG Paints Arena.
By Jacob Cheris