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<\/p>\nRoman Josi had a goal and two assists as the Nashville Predators finished out a weekend back-to-back with a victory over the Washington Capitals, 3-2, on Sunday at Bridgestone Arena.<\/p>\n
Josi scored the game-winning goal on the power play, off a one-time feed from Steven Stamkos. Stamkos had two points himself, a goal and an assist.\u00a0Cole Smith also scored for the Predators<\/p>\n
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Justus Annunen picked up his fourth win of the season, making 27 saves on 29 shots to improve to 4-5-1 on the year.<\/p>\n
Here are three takeaways from the Predators victory over the Capitals.<\/p>\n
Josi’s offense hasn’t played as big a part in his game as it has in past years. Coming into Sunday’s matchup, Josi had four goals and 11 assists for 15 points.<\/p>\n
The last time he recorded more than two points in a game was in a 6-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 13, 2024, when he had two goals and two assists. Despite not being as offensively involved lately, Josi’s all-around impact has kept the Predators going all season.<\/p>\n
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“I don’t think there’s any secret what our recorded when is when he’s in the lineup,” Brunette said He’s a big part (of our game), even though he’s not on the score sheet, with his leadership and with the way he plays.”<\/p>\n
When Josi has been out of the lineup this season, the Predators are 3-7-2.<\/p>\n
Josi had the secondary assist on Stamkos’ power play goal in the first period, the primary assist on Smith’s conversion, and scored off a one-timer in the third period, which ended up being the game-winning goal.<\/p>\n
“I try to produce, and I try to be involved offensively,” Josi said. “At times, it hasn’t been what I expect for myself, but we just keep going, and we keep winning too. As long as you keep winning, you’re OK with it.<\/p>\n
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“I feel like it’s more when it’s not going the team’s way and you’re not producing, it’s frustrating, but I’m just trying to play my game and at some point if you keep doing the right things, you’re gonna get the points too.”<\/p>\n
This season has been no different in Josi’s approach of putting the team over his own game, but his teammates understand just how important Josi is to their success.<\/p>\n
“We’re not a high-flying offensive team. We got to play the right way to create offense, and then Roman brings that element to his game,” Stamkos said. “Sometimes it’s getting the puck out of the zone. He’s a one-man breakout. He can get it out. A calming influence on the back end. His leadership. There are so many qualities that he brings to the points besides.”<\/p>\n
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Jan 11, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Justus Annunen (29) blocks the shot of Washington Capitals center Aliaksei Protas (21) during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
After a rough start to the season, going 1-4-1 in his first six starts, Annunen has won his last three starts.<\/p>\n
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He’s in the midst of a massive turnaround, as his goals against average and save percentage were among the worst in the league at one point. After a trio of victories, Annunen has a\u00a03.17 goals against average and a .884 save percentage.<\/p>\n
In his last four games, Annunen has posted an average save percentage of .933.<\/p>\n
“You got a little bit of grace for him (Annunen) in those first couple starts, and now he’s gotten a little bit better rhythm,” Brunette said. “You could tell he’s feeling a lot better, especially in his last five starts. He’s been exceptional.”<\/p>\n
Annunen’s effort has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.<\/p>\n
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“Big Juice (Annunen) was amazing in net and he’s been unreal every game,” Josi said.<\/p>\n
Sunday was the 10th straight game that the Nashville has given up the first goal of the game.<\/p>\n
However, in that stretch, the Predators are 6-4-0, finding ways to win even when they start the game on the wrong foot. The game-leading goal by Alexander Ovechkin on the power play was a little bit of an exception, according to Brunette.<\/p>\n
The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer netted his 917th career goal off a one-timer from the right side of the ice. Stamkos got one back as he scored his 601st career goal, on the power play, from the same spot<\/p>\n
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“It was a heck of a shot by Ovechkin, and then to see Stammer (Stamkos) to do it in the same game is pretty cool,” Brunette said. “That’s about 1500 regular-season goals and who knows how many for them to hit the same spot. Probably the 2 greatest goal scores of our generation.”<\/p>\n
Despite going down, the Predators clawed their way back and ended up winning, encapsulating the effort and approach this team has had this season: being used to being in uncomfortable situations and making the best of them.<\/p>\n
“We know we’re not perfect, but we will rebound. We’re gonna hang in there, and we’re gonna give it our best, and as a coach, that’s all you can ask for,” Brunette said.<\/p>\n
Up next: Edmonton Oilers (22-16-7, 2nd Pacific) at Nashville Predators (21-20-4, 5th Central) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CST at Bridgestone Arena.<\/p>\n
This story will be updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roman Josi had a goal and two assists as the Nashville Predators finished out a weekend back-to-back with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5119],"tags":[278,396,2416,50920,17763,230,146,5,4156,2409,231,5281,4,506,4308,2410,1501,1489,109],"class_list":["post-403215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nashville-predators","tag-alexander-ovechkin","tag-aliaksei-protas","tag-bridgestone-arena","tag-brunette","tag-cole-smith","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-hockey","tag-justus-annunen","tag-nashville","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nashvillepredators","tag-nhl","tag-power-play","tag-power-play-goal","tag-predators","tag-roman-josi","tag-steven-stamkos","tag-washington-capitals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115881549758434076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}