WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored twice and added the deciding goal in a shootout, giving the Washington Capitals a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.
Ovechkin, the second Capitals shooter, beat Predators goalie Dan Ellis. He was the lone Capitals' shooter to score in the shootout. None of the three Nashville shooters scored off Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Ovechkin had the Capitals' two goals in regulation, and when he scored, the fans littered the ice with hats, mistakenly thinking it was a hat trick. Play was halted for about two minutes while the hats were collected from the ice.
The shootout began after an overtime which featured just one shot on goal — by Ovechkin with 22.5 seconds to play.
The loss was Nashville's fifth straight after they opened the season with two wins.
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead when he scored on a 25-foot slap shot just 15 seconds into a power play at 5:27 of the first period. It was his eighth goal of the season. With 1:45 left in the period, Ovechkin scored again when he retrieved Brendan Morrison's long pass banked off the boards and weaved in front of Ellis and fired it past him for his second straight two-goal game.
Ovechkin has nine goals, and the Predators entered the game with just eight.
The Capitals failed to take advantage of their second period scoring opportunities, and they were stunned when the Predators, who had been outscored 15-2 in their three previous games, scored twice in 95 seconds.
Shea Weber scored Nashville's first goal on a 45-footer that beat Varlamov at 14:29 of the second period. J.P. Dumont, who missed four games with a concussion, tied the game at 2-all. He shot from the right corner, and his shot tucked just inside the left corner of the net. It was the first goals of the season for both Weber and Dumont.
Varlamov was playing in place of Jose Theodore, who suffered back spasms in the Capitals' win over San Jose on Thursday.
Notes
Nashville failed to convert on four power plays. They've scored on just one of 24 opportunities this season. … Washington RW Matt Bradley played in his 500th NHL game. … Nashville D Cody Franson, who was recalled from AHL Milwaukee, made his NHL debut. He replaced D Dan Hamhuis, who is out with an upper-body injury. … The Capitals' backup goalie was Braden Holtby, who was recalled from Washington's ECHL South Carolina affiliate. … Capitals' D Shaone Morrisonn was scratched with a lower-body injury.