Tuch breaks tie in 3rd, Capitals win 3rd straight

NASHVILLE -- Alex Tuch scored the go-ahead goal at 10:09 of the third period, and the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to three games with a 4-3 victory against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Tuch collected Jordan Kyrou’s feed from below the goal line and rifled a wrist shot from the left face-off dot over Juuse Saros’ blocker to break a 3-3 tie with his 10th of the season.

The 30-year-old forward has five goals on a three-game goal streak and leads the NHL with five game-winning goals.

“Some of those are a little lucky,” Tuch said. “Some of them are (when) the opponent gets a late goal or something like that.

I think our whole group has just been rolling. I’ve been able to cash in on a couple goals.

My linemates have been unbelievable. I’ve played with a bunch of different guys this year, and we just keep on pressing.

I think everyone’s building chemistry with one another.”

Cole Hutson had his first two-goal game in the NHL for the Capitals (8-4-0), who won 5-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. Aliaksei Protas and Jack St. Ivany each had two assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves.

Filip Forsberg scored two goals, Roman Josi had three assists, and Saros made 25 saves for the Predators (4-4-5), who are 1-2-2 in their past five games.

“I thought it was a good performance tonight. We just didn’t get anything out of it,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said.

“There were little lulls where we made some mistakes and let in some goals a little bit uncharacteristically, and we just couldn’t grab that extra goal later.”

Forsberg put the Predators ahead 1-0 during a 5-on-3 power play at 12:48 of the first period. He one-timed Josi’s cross-ice feed from the left face-off dot, scoring on the man-advantage for the third consecutive game.

Hutson tied it 1-1 at 16:13, pinpointing a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle to beat Saros on the near side.

“I took a look up and saw a little space, so kind of just a hope play,” Hutson said. “I’m lucky it went in.”

Boone Jenner gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 4:15 of the second period. After winning a face-off, Jenner followed Martin Fehervary’s shot from the point and wristed the rebound past a screened Saros.

Forsberg evened the score 2-2 at 9:09 when Josi swatted a loose puck toward the crease, where Forsberg picked it up and maneuvered around Lindgren for an open look at the net.

Forsberg has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past three games.

Hutson roofed a snap shot under the crossbar to put Washington back in front 3-2 at 13:46.

Ross Colton continued the back-and-forth battle by tying it 3-3 on Adam Edstrom’s rebound at 6:34 of the third period.

“We got better and better as the game went along,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “I thought the second (period) was good, and then the third was really strong, even though they tied that game up.

I thought we had a lot of good looks, played strong, (made) smart decisions. Guys played the right way in the third period and did a good job.”

Tuch required the second fewest games (12) in Capitals history to reach the 10-goal mark. Only Dino Ciccarelli (nine games in 1988-89) accomplished the feat quicker.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Tuch said. “I just want to keep it going and keep winning games.

That’s the best part of it all.”

NOTES: Nashville inducted longtime coach and former general manager Barry Trotz into the Predators Golden Hall before the game.

Alex Ovechkin had three shots on goal in 10:56 of ice time in his final regular-season game at Bridgestone Arena.

Trotz, who won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Capitals in 2018, and Josi presented Ovechkin with a custom Gibson acoustic guitar earlier in the day.

Ovechkin recorded the 874th regular-season win of his career, matching Jaromir Jagr for the seventh most in NHL history.

St. Ivany became the first player in team history to record multiple assists in each of his first two games. He is also the fifth defenseman in the past 30 years to record multiple assists in each of his first two games with a franchise.

Hutson is the fifth rookie defenseman in Capitals history to have a multigoal game.