Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas
After setting a new franchise record with seven straight victories away from home, the Washington Capitals (4th in Metropolitan Division) return to own ice to host the Nashville Predators (6th in Central), who are riding a four-game point streak with three wins.
The current back-to-back set started with a victory for the Nashville Predators (17-14-6), who triumphed for the second straight time after kicking off their latest five-date road trip with a 5-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena last night. The Preds were outshot 67-25, but tied the game on three separate occasions throughout the first two periods before Mark Jankowski (4 goals, 7 points this year) bagged the eventual winner five minutes into the final third, with Colton Sissons (6 goals, 13 points) adding an empty-netter with three seconds remaining. With that, Nashville improved to a 5-1-2 record in its last eight outings, currently riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1).
Goalie Juuse Saros made a franchise-record 64 saves yesterday, taking his current performance total to 14-10-5 for the season with a 2.77 GAA a nd a .918 save percentage. Kevin Lankinen (3-4-1 on the year with a 2.91 GAA and a .916 save percentage), though, is expected to guard Nashville’s cage tonight, having gone 3-4-1 against the Metropolitan Division in previous encounters with a 3.34 GAA and a .903 save percentage. The Predators, meanwhile, are 6th in least goals scored per game this season (2.78), 15th in least goals conceded on average (3.03), 5th from the bottom in power play (18.3%) and 15th in penalty kill (78.9%).