Capitals 5, Predators 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Barry Trotz finally earned a win as a visitor at Bridgestone Arena.
The Washington Capitals' coach came back to the place where he coached for the Nashville Predators' first 15 years and had to sweat out a wild last 10 minutes in a 5-3 triumph Tuesday night.
After goals by right winger Justin Williams and left winger Marcus Johansson just over three minutes apart gave Washington a 4-1 lead, Nashville rallied.
Defenseman Roman Josi's wrister caromed off a Capitals defender and past goalie Braden Holtby at 9:49, followed by left winger Filip Forsberg's second goal of the game on a deflection of a point shot by defenseman Mattias Ekholm at 12:00.
But with a sellout crowd of 17,113 pleading for an improbable win, Washington nursed its lead through the last eight minutes, finally icing it with an empty-net power-play goal from left winger Alex Ovechkin at 19:00. The Capitals upped their record to 39-9-4 and improved their road mark to 19-5-2.
Holtby (34-5-3) made 23 saves, while Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (20-18-7) stopped 18 shots. Nashville (25-21-8) finished 1-3-0 on its four-game homestand.
Trotz lost in his first two games in Nashville while standing behind the visitors' bench. The Predators came from behind last January for a 4-3 win on a late goal by right winger James Neal, and Trotz's Metropolitan Division All-Star team lost to the Atlantic Division on Jan. 31.
Washington broke the scoring seal at 12:02 of the first period as left winger Jason Chimera deflected a centering pass by right winger Tom Wilson for his 14th goal of the season. Wilson pounced on a turnover by Nashville defenseman Shea Weber and set up Chimera at the left post.
Wilson made it 2-0 at 4:55 of the second period with a blistering one-timer from the left faceoff circle, his fifth goal. Set up by left winger Marcus Johansson, the goal occurred moments after a Predators turnover in the neutral zone.
Nashville hit the scoreboard at 14:42 -- just eight seconds before nearly four minutes of power-play time was to expire from consecutive too many men on the ice infractions on the Capitals. The goal came on a wrister by left winger Filip Forsberg, who recorded his 16th goal.
NOTES: Washington LW Marcus Johansson returned to the lineup Tuesday night after missing the previous four games due to injury. ... Nashville LW Colin Wilson (lower-body injury) was activated from injured reserve after sitting out the last 12 games. ... RW Stanislav Gailev was the only healthy Capitals scratch. ... The Predators scratched D Petter Granberg and LW Austin Watson.