Black Friday wasn’t kind to the Capitals; they dug themselves a hole and laid down in it. In the finale of a four-game homestand, the Caps didn’t have their ‘A’ game – or their ‘B’ game – and they suffered a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers on Friday afternoon at Capital One Arena.
The visitors put crooked numbers on the board in each of the first two periods to win going away. In the second period, the Oilers struck for three power-play goals, the first time the Caps suffered the ignominy of surrendering a trio of extra-man tallies in a single frame in over five years.
Edmonton’s big guns did most of the damage. Leon Draisaitl had a pair of power-play goals and three points, Connor McDavid had four assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and three points.
“Certainly special teams was a big part of the story tonight,” says Oilers’ coach Kris Knoblauch. “I believe we had five kills tonight, a few blocked shots. But obviously three power-play goals makes it a lot easier to play.”
Friday’s loss ended a five-game Washington winning streak, and the Oilers stemmed a three-game slide with their victory. Edmonton netminder Stuart Skinner became the third goaltender to blank the Caps in their building this season, stopping all 25 shots he faced for the third shutout of his NHL career.
“I don’t think it’s frustrating,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of the loss. “It’s just really disappointing. We’ve done a lot of good things, and I’m sure we’ll talk about that. It’s disappointing. You’re going to lose games in this League and you’re not going to have your best. But to play like that coming off of Thanksgiving before we go on the road, to me it’s a very, very immature game. It’s almost something you would expect from a young team that thinks they’re already in California, and halfway on the plane before that game even starts.
“Obviously, if you do that against a team that’s playing for their lives and feels like their season is on the line, good luck. It’s not even close to us. That’s what you just witnessed.”
Washington’s first five minutes or so were okay, but it failed to take advantage of a couple early scoring opportunities. As the first frame wore on, the Caps found themselves defending in their own end far too much; Edmonton had only two draws in its own end of the ice in the first period. The Caps’ passes weren’t clicking, they weren’t able to get through the neutral zone cleanly or consistently, and Edmonton broke through for a pair of goals in the back half of the period.
Evander Kane started the scoring with a chip shot from the top of the paint at 14:10, and Nugent-Hopkins doubled the Oilers’ lead to 2-0 when he batted a pop fly into the net from a similarly tight location just over a minute later.
The wheels came off in the middle period. Edmonton struck for three power-play goals in as many opportunities against the suddenly undisciplined Caps, who entered the game as the fourth least penalized team in the NHL.
Evan Bouchard scored from center point at 3:44. Draisaitl netted the next two, striking at 4:48 and at 18:37 as the desperate Oilers – winless in the previous three games of a four-game trip – made certain they would not be heading back to Alberta without anything to show from a week on the road.
“I think we didn’t play at all,” says Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin. “We give them lots of space, obviously. When their top players control the puck, it’s dangerous.”
Friday’s Edmonton outburst marks the first time Washington has surrendered three power-play goals in a single period since March 20, 2018, when the Tampa Bay Lightning scored three times in the middle period in a 5-4 overtime win over the Caps here in the District.
Adding injury to insult, the Caps were unable to generate anything on three power plays of their own in the second period, but they also lost the services of right wing T.J. Oshie on the first of those three man advantage opportunities. Oshie was laid out on a hard hit from Oilers’ defenseman Mattias Ekholm at the Edmonton line early in the frame. The Washington winger had to helped off the ice, and he did not return.
Oshie will not travel out west with the team on Friday night.
The Caps’ power play drought reached 10 straight games on Friday, one game shy of the dubious franchise mark of 11, established in the team’s inaugural season of 1974-75 and matched again in 1977-78.
“It’s going to have to change a bunch,” says Carbery of his team’s extra-man outfit, now without a goal in 30 straight opportunities. “Tons of different things: personnel wise, puck management wise, puck recovery, decisions, routes – you name it. I saw it tonight from both units.
“We’ll continue to look to try to find a combination of five guys that are able to execute the power play and be able to do the necessary things required to have an effective power play in this League.”
Washington will have to sit with this setback over the weekend. The Caps return to action on Monday night in San Jose against the Sharks, the first of three games in four nights in California.
“They’re a desperate team,” says Caps’ right wing Tom Wilson of the Oilers. “We probably didn’t have enough urgency right off the hop. It’s too bad; we had a good homestand and feeling good about our game, but every once in a while, these games happen. We’ve just got to get back to work, pick ourselves up, and start the road trip off right.”
