Top 3 Washington Capitals studs against Nashville Predators

The Washington Capitals defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. Let's look at the top 3 studs from the win

Capitals 4-1 Predators (12 Jan, 2025) Game Recap - - ESPN (SG)

The Washington Capitals defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. For the full game recap click here. Read on to find out who we believe were the top 3 studs from the win.

3. Alex Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin was all over the ice in this game. He had the secondary assist on Wilson's power play goal which was his 12th assist of the season. It tied Nicklas Lidstrom at 590 for the 12th most power play points in NHL history. He would later tap in an empty net goal for his 20th of the season to join Gordie Howe (22) as the second player in NHL history to score 20 or more goals in 20 consecutive seasons.

With that tally, Ovechkin is now 21 away from tying and 22 away from passing Wayne Gretzky.

It was the 20th time in his career Ovechkin reached the 20 goal mark. It was also the Caps 20th game in Nahsville in franchise history. In addition, Ovi has been in the league for the last 20 seasons so it truly is remarkable he reached this and is this close to Gretzky at age 39.

The most tragic thing about the article is Ovi isn't the first stud but that's why there's two more.

2. Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson opened up the scoring for his 19th goal of the season while the Caps were on the power play. His nine power play goals rank tied for third in the NHL, trailing only Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning (12 PPGs) and Gabriel Vilardi of the Winnipeg Jets with 10 power play goals.

Dylan Strome and Ovechkin assisted on the Wilson goal. We covered Ovi in the previous slide but for Strome it was his team leading 34h assist of the season and he has factored in on 19 of Washington's 30 power play goals this season which is good for 63.3 percent.

With the 4-1 win, the Capitals extend their point streak to seven games with a 4-0-3 record and over that point streak Washington has outscored their opponents 24-16 and have converted on seven of 19 power play opportunities which is good for 36.8 percent.

Spencer Carbery would speak about the improved power play of late via Robby Stanley of NHL.com:

"I feel like our power play is one of those where it doesn't matter how it looks, as long as it's productive. And that's exactly what our power play is doing right now. Sometimes it doesn't look great. Sometimes we're giving up a breakaway here and there, and we'd like to clean that stuff up and the entries aren't on point at times. But when you're scoring one a night, that's delivering the goods. "
Spencer Carbery

1. Ethen Frank

Ethen Frank would score his first career NHL goal to give Washington the lead for good with 11:30 remaining in the third perid. He also tallied an assist the night before when the Capitals lost on home ice in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens.

The 26 year old went undrafted and has recorded 125 points with 80 goals and 45 assists in 161 career AHL games with the Hershey Bears. His 80 goals since April 15, 2022, the date of his first career AHL goal, are the second most in the AHL since that span. Samuel Fagemo has more with 85.

Frank is the 11th player in Capitals franchise history to record a point in each of his first two career NHL games.

Tom Wilson would comment on Frank's first NHL goal:

"It's pretty special with a guy that's just earned everything. Hockey is such a great game at every level, but a guy that just stuck with it. Heck of a player, great guy, and he comes up and his work really paid off. And you see him have success last night in front of his family and then tonight his first goal, it brings you back. It's what is so great about the game when the guy can score his first goal. It's a dream come true. "
Tom Wilson