Jan. 11 vs. Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena
Time: 8:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (27-10-5)
Nashville Predators (13-21-7)
On Saturday night in Nashville, the Caps finish up a weekend set of back-to-back games and their 2024-25 season’s series with the Nashville Predators. Back on Nov. 6 in Washington, the Caps prevailed by a 3-2 count in the first meeting between the two clubs this season.
Playing at home on Friday night, the Caps scored first but ultimately fell 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens in overtime. Washington’s bad news doesn’t end with the loss to the Habs; the Caps also lost starting netminder Charlie Lindgren to injury early in the second period.
After a heavy collision with Montreal’s Nick Suzuki – who eventually scored the overtime game-winner – Lindgren tried to shake it off and stay in the game. But a couple of minutes of playing time later, the concussion spotter asked for the veteran goaltender to be removed for further examination. Logan Thompson came on in relief, and Lindgren did not return to the game.
On Saturday afternoon, the Caps placed Lindgren on injured reserve with an upper body injury and recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from AHL Hershey. Washington did not conduct a morning skate prior to Saturday’s game in Music City.
After Jakob Chychrun’s 12th goal of the season – a power-play tally – staked the Caps to an early 1-0 lead, Montreal got second-period goals from Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson – the latter on a shorthanded breakaway – to carry a 2-1 lead into the third. That’s when Ethen Frank made a difference in the game for the Capitals, doing so in his NHL debut.
Playing on a line with Lars Eller and new papa Taylor Raddysh, Frank used his world class speed to narrowly beat Habs blueliner Arber Xhekaj back to the Montreal end, nullifying what looked like a certain icing call. Frank put a move on Xhekaj to buy himself enough time and space to push the puck to the front for Lars Eller, who buried a shot on the short side to even the game up at 2-2 early in the third.
Frank’s wheels and his savvy play helped the Caps collect another standings point.
“I loved it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Frank’s NHL debut. “I thought he was arguably our best player on the ice, has a positive impact, and is the reason we get that game tied in the [third].”
Frank, who turns 27 early next month, has scored 80 goals in 161 games with Hershey over his three pro seasons, the second highest total in the AHL over that span. He finally got the call to the NHL on Friday, and he made the most of his initial opportunity.
“I was thinking about that on the ice, what my feelings were,” says Frank. “And it’s not fulfillment, because I’m still hungry for more. But that was the only word that came to mind. I feel like all the work I’ve done finally paid off, so that was a good feeling.”
For Eller, Friday’s game was No. 1,076 of his NHL career.
“He didn’t look like a player that was playing his first game,” says the 35-year-old Eller. “I think he was alert, winning races, I think he looked pretty comfortable. He made a lot of good plays through the neutral zone, and he was finding red jerseys most of the night. He had a good game, and I think our line had a good game, so some stuff to build on for sure.”
Although they are 6-2-3 in their last 11 games, the Caps are in need of some positives to build on. For the second straight game, their shot total (17) against Montreal was in the teens; it’s been almost 13 years (Jan. 17-18, 2012) since they’ve suffered that ignominy. The Capitals have been limited to single digit shot totals in each of their last nine periods of hockey overall. In their last three games, they’ve managed to get only 63 of 175 shot attempts (36 percent) on net while 34.2 percent were blocked, and 29.8 percent missed the mark.
While the Caps will be playing for the second time in as many nights on Saturday, the Preds have been sitting in park since Tuesday, when they finished a six-game road trip with a 5-2 setback at the hands of the Jets in Winnipeg, their second loss in Manitoba’s capital city on that trip. On Dec. 30 in the second game of the journey, the Preds came up empty in a 3-0 loss to the Jets.
Nashville opened that stretch of six straight on the road with three consecutive losses to close out the 2024 portion of its schedule. The Preds then rebounded by sweeping a set of back-to-backs; they blanked the Canucks in Vancouver 3-0 and doused the Flames in Calgary by a 4-1 count the next night. Nashville’s loss to the Jets in the trip finale prevented it from breaking even on the journey.
The Preds opened the season with five consecutive regulation losses and they’ve been pursuing the pack since. Nashville has also endured an eight-game winless run (0-5-3) in which five of the eight losses came by the margin of a single goal.
