When – 8 p.m.

TV – CSN HD

Radio – WFED-1500 AM

A three-game road trip begins Tuesday night for the Caps in Music City when they take on the Nashville Predators, who have actually been road warriors (6-3-1) away from Bridgestone Arena and kind of so-so in front of the home folks (2-2-2).

You’ll see the league’s consensus best 1-2 defensive pairing with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter getting the lion’s share of the time against Alex Ovechkin and Washington’s top line. They haven’t exactly stopped him in the past. In five career games against Nashville, Ovechkin has four goals and four assists. And that duo plays in front of one of the NHL’s best goalies, Pekka Rinne (.929 save percentage, 2.28 goals-against average).

“The chemistry between the two of them is really good. They feed off each other really well, they move pucks well,” said Caps forward Joel Ward, who played in Nashville for three years before signing with Washington this summer. “[Suter] can log the puck up and down the ice pretty good. It’s definitely a good combination. [Weber] has a heavy shot that he tries to get off as much as he can. We’re going to try to make them play 200-foot hockey and make them work for their ice time.”  

The Predators score just enough at 2.69 goals per game. That ranks 18^th in the NHL. The power-play is about league average (15.2%). But the penalty kill ranks fifth overall at 88.2%.

These teams are actually pretty familiar with one another. They played twice in the preseason – yes, with limited numbers of veterans on hand each time – and have played four times during the regular season in the last three years.

Given how the Predators play, it’s kind of shocking the Caps have won five in a row against them. Last year was a 3-2 overtime win at Verizon Center on Oct. 16, 2010. Brooks Laich had the power-play winner in OT and Michal Neuvirth made 37 saves. That was almost exactly one year after Washington won – shocker – 3-2 in a shootout on Oct. 17, 2009 at Verizon. Their game on Oct. 28, 2008 went in the Caps’ favor, 4-3, in another shootout. The one meeting at Bridgestone Arena was a 2-1 overtime win on March 10, 2009.  Sergei Fedorov scored the overtime winner in that one.

The Caps have actually killed 11 penalties in a row as the PK starts to assert itself. Of course, that could just be because the Devils aren’t any good. New Jersey is clicking at a ghastly 10% and is tied for last in the NHL after taking the bagel in 10 power-play tries against Washington in two games over the weekend. Either way, the Caps now at 82.5% (T-15^th) and – to be fair – they have killed 19 of the last 20 penalties overall dating to the start of the Carolina game on Nov. 4.

Expect a homecoming of sorts for both Ward and Tomas Vokoun, who gets the start in goal according to both the Post’s Katie Carrera and the Times’ Steve Whyno, in Nashville for the morning skate. Vokoun played with the Predators from 1998 to 2007. No Mike Green tonight. He’s out with a groin injury. But, as expected, both John Erskine and Roman Hamrlik will play tonight, the Times reports. Both say Mathieu Perreault is on the ice for extra work and is likely the healthy scratch. 

“I need a win. I need some bragging right here,” Ward joked. “It should be fun. Looking forward to it. Get a chance to see some familiar faces and get a chance to connect with my little brother as well.”

Ward, who did make the preseason trip to Nashville when the Caps played there on Sept. 28, said he’s in a fantasy football league with some of his former teammates and that his team is in first place so far with only one loss. Ward described his team as “studly” to local reporters after Monday’s practice at Kettler Iceplex, which left teammate Troy Brouwer shaking his head two locker stalls over.  

These were the forward lines and the defensive pairings at practice on Monday. No guarantee it stays like that, but we’ll have a better idea after the morning skate in Nashville at 12 p.m. today.

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera – Brooks Laich – Alexander Semin

Cody Eakin – Marcus Johansson – Joel Ward

Matt Hendricks – Jeff Halpern (Mathieu Perreault) – Mike Knuble

Defensemen: Karl Alzner-John Carlson. John Erskine-Dennis Wideman. Roman Hamrlik-Jeff Schultz

Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14