WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington emerged from an offensive slumber and netminder Michal Neuvirth stopped 20 shots as the Capitals snapped the Nashville Predators' five-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday.
The Capitals played suffocating defense and had goals from mainstays Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom to deflate the surging Predators.
It marked the first time since October 30 2010 that Washington had goals from its three top offensive players in the same game.
Capitals coach Dale Hunter, whose record improved to 5-5 since taking over from Bruce Boudreau last month, credited Ovechkin for jump-starting the offense.
"He's a special player and he came out scoring and hitting," Hunter said. "He was a complete player. In the first period we need a lift and he came out and played hard."
The Capitals had scored just one goal in each of their pervious three games but grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Ovechkin and Backstrom.
"We want to dictate our game and we want to dictate our style and this system, so it was pretty cool," said Ovechkin, a two-times NHL most valuable player who has gone 21 games since his last multi-point effort.
"The team played together today, played hard, and we deserved to win."
'GAME, SET, AND MATCH'
Nashville's Sergei Kostitsyn scored early in the final period to trim the deficit to 2-1 but Semin and Troy Brouwer countered for Washington to delight the sold-out Verizon Center crowd.
The Predators had played 10 consecutive games decided by a single goal, winning seven of them.
"In the first period we lost a couple of one-on-one battles and they scored," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. "They came out with a lot of purpose and a lot of jump and had us on our heels.
"We had a couple of chances to get back in it but we weren't able to get it on track tonight."
Neuvirth, who shut out Winnipeg 1-0 Thursday, benefited from a tight-checking Washington defense to hike his record to 5-6-1 this season after a slow start.
The Capitals' penalty-killing unit was a perfect five-for-five against the Predators and has not yielded a power-play goal in its last 14 chances over four games.
Trotz thought his club still had a chance until Brouwer, on the power play, tipped in a long slap shot by Dennis Wideman to give the Capitals a 4-1 lead with just over six minutes left.
"At that point it was game, set and match," he said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
