Caps try to extend the series against the Preds

Nov. 6 vs. Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena

Time: 7:00 p.m

TV: MNMT

Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7

Nashville Predators (4-7-1)

Washington Capitals (8-3-0)

At the start of the 2024-25 NHL season, home was a happy place for the Capitals. The Caps have won six straight games at Capital One Arena, their longest home winning streak in more than six years. On Wednesday night in Washington, the Caps will put that series on the line when they open a two-game homestand against the Nashville Predators.

The Caps' last appearance was an away game at Carolina late Sunday afternoon. The Caps briefly led 2-1 in that game, but the final result was a 4-2 setback, just the third Washington has suffered in 11 games this season. Although Sunday's game wasn't one of the Caps' best performances of the season, they were within one goal of the Canes for most of the final 35 minutes of the game; They simply weren't able to break the Carolina swarm consistently or often enough to score an equalizer.

Washington picked up multiple wins after its first two losses of the 2024-25 season and will try to do so again on Wednesday. The Caps will also look to repeat the seven-game home winning streak they enjoyed in the home stretch of the 2017/18 season (from February 24 to March 28, 2018), which ultimately ended with them winning the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup.

Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored Washington's first goal of Sunday's game, a 5-on-3 power play that tied the score at 1-1 in the final minute of the first period. For Ovechkin, this goal was No. 860 of his NHL career and his seventh of the young season. The goal also continued Ovechkin's recent strike; He has scored in four straight games and scored five goals in that span.

The Capitals have looked a lot different – ​​and a lot better – from the start this season, and that definitely applies to Ovechkin as well. On Monday afternoon, the 39-year-old Caps captain was named the NHL's No. 1 star for the week ending Nov. 3.

“Overall, our line played better because we know the system,” Ovechkin said. “Because last year (coach Spencer Carbery) came in and it was a different system and we have to figure out how we have to play. And you can really see that we know the system; Everyone knows exactly what we have to do.”

In 2023–24, Ovechkin got off to a slow start; He didn't score his seventh goal of the season until his 34th game, a home game on December 30, 2023 against Nashville. But he delivered a strong final push and helped the Capitals advance to the playoffs late in the season. He scored 23 goals in his last 36 games. Including his hot start to the 2024-25 season, Ovechkin has scored 30 goals in his final 47 regular season games, putting him 35 goals away from Wayne Gretzky's all-time mark of 894 career goals.

Ovechkin has looked sharper earlier this season, but so have his linemates and his teammates, as well as the team as a whole. He is off to his best start since 2021-22, when he needed just six games to light the lamp seven times. After 11 games in the 21–22 season, Ovechkin scored 10 goals. He finished the season with 50 goals under his belt – the last of his nine seasons with 50 or more goals – in 77 games this season.

“It was nice to see some step in, but his line has been a productive line all year when you look at the underlying numbers and the changes,” Ovechkin’s Carbery says. “Sometimes he went a little cold, like when the pucks weren't coming in for him early on, but their line was still very effective.

“And sometimes he gets a little impatient as a scorer. And he asks, 'Why? What's up?' And (we say): “Just relax.” The process looks good. The film looks good. You get to good spots, you spend more time in the offensive zone, your line is productive. They generate 10 chances to score and only allow four; This is a good night, just stick with it.'

“And I feel like because the process was good for his line and suddenly he can score a few goals and for a goalscorer he's feeling it now.”

Ovechkin is now in his 20th NHL season and we can all see what happens when he “feels it.”

“He just finds a way to open up,” said Caps center Dylan Strome, who has had his own heater since opening night. “He obviously has a great opportunity; I try to pass on as much as possible to him.

“It's fun to play with him. It's not for nothing that he has (almost) 1,600 points. He knows how to score, he knows how to make plays, and it’s an honor to be alongside him.”

After a day of rest on Monday, the Caps met at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday for a practice session in preparation for Wednesday's meeting with the Predators. The Caps received some good news on Tuesday when defenseman Matt Roy was able to don a regular sweater and participate in a full practice session. Roy, signed as an unrestricted free agent over the summer, suffered a lower-body injury early in the second half of Washington's opening game on Oct. 12 against New Jersey and was sidelined in each of the Caps' previous 10 games.

“He’s definitely a possibility for (Wednesday),” Carbery said. “He looked good, he continued to develop and today another box was checked – he completed a regular training session and a regular jersey – so everything points to him potentially playing (Wednesday).”

Washington defenseman Jakob Chychrun has missed the team's last three games because of an upper-body injury he suffered early in a game against the Rangers on Oct. 29. Chychrun did not practice with his teammates on Tuesday, but he skated before practice on Tuesday.

“He ran a solid 45 (minutes) this morning, I think, with (assistant coach) Kenny (McCudden),” Carbery said. “And so he's making progress, not yet to the point where he's in practice, but he's making progress.”

Like the Capitals, Nashville weathered a tough start last season and staged a strong late-season rebound to clinch a playoff spot. Like the Caps, the Preds brought in a number of new faces in the offseason. But that's where the similarities end; Nashville's youngsters haven't found their way yet, and the Preds are cellar dwellers in the Central Division entering NHL action on Tuesday night.

The Preds began with five straight losses (0-5-0) and immediately shook off that rocky start with a 4-1-1 victory. But when the Preds played at home against Los Angeles on Monday night, they made another blunder; In the 3-0 loss to Darcy Kuemper and the Kings, they only managed 16 shots on goal.

Trailing 2-0 early in the third period, the Preds were only able to test Kuemper in the final four minutes of the final frame, and a late empty-net goal sealed their fate. While Washington ranks second in the league with 34 goals at 5-on-5, the Preds are last in that category with just a dozen goals at 5-on-5 in as many games.