Capitals fall short to Predators

The Washington Capitals fell on Friday night to the Nashville Predators by a final of 3-2.

Thomas Novak opened the game up with a goal at 4:10. Sonny Milano tied it with a rebound for his seventh of the season at 9:52. It was assisted by Conor Sheary and Dmitry Orlov.

Yakov Trenin scored at 15:09 to give the Predators the 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. The Caps outshot the Predators 14-9.

At 11:07 in the second period Nicolas Aube Kubel scored his second goal in as many games. It was assisted by Erik Gustafsson and Trevor van Riemsdyk.

2-2 was the score after two with the Predators leading in shots 8-7 in the second period.

The Predators took the lead at 16:44 from Ryan McDonagh. The Caps outshot the Predators 11-4 in the third period and 32-21 overall but could not get the equalizer.

Alex Ovechkin’s goal streak ended at four games. But it was fun while it lasted. Now the captain looks to get a new streak going after getting voted into the NHL All Star Game.

It was the Caps first regulation loss since Dec. 15. It also snapped a nine game point streak.

Defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk said this after the game:

"“Both teams were competing hard,and there wasn’t a lot of room out there to make plays. You just have to accept that and get pucks in deep. I thought we played pretty good, just didn’t find a way to see it through.”"

For the first time all season, Aliaksei Protas was a healthy scratch. Instead of seeing him on the ice he was spotted in a suit on his way to the press box.

There is a possibility Protas could be sent down to Hershey with the potential return of Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson on the horizon. Protas won’t need to clear waivers.

Could Sunday be the day Backstrom and Wilson come back?