POSTGAME NOTEBOOK - Oilers 5, Caps 3

And Then There Were None - When Caps captain Alex Ovechkin landed in the COVID-19 protocol on Wednesday, his plans to depart for Las Vegas on Thursday for the NHL's All-Star Game weekend and festivities were scotched, and Caps right wing Tom Wilson was deservedly named to represent the team in Ovechkin's absence.

But more immediately, Ovechkin was also unavailable to the Caps for Wednesday night's home game against the Edmonton Oilers, the team's second game in as many nights following a 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Ovechkin's absence was keenly felt in Wednesday's 5-3 loss to the Oilers, particularly on the power play. Edmonton won the special teams battle and the game, scoring an early power-play goal and breaking a 3-3 tie with a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shorthanded goal late in the third period, a tally that proved to be the game-winner.
The Caps captain had been the last player on the Washington roster to appear in every game this season; this will now mark the fourth season in franchise history - and the first since 2003-04 - in which no Caps player will play in every game.
The Caps have played and won without Ovechkin before over the course of his 17-year NHL career, but because Wednesday's game was the second of back-to-backs, there was no morning skate prior to the game against Edmonton, and no opportunity for the Caps to go through their paces without The Great Eight, particularly on the power play where he had been on the ice for 220:40 of Washington's total of 230:01 in extra man time this season.
Washington's power play has been a bit of a revolving door and has struggled mightily throughout this season, but Ovechkin has been the one constant presence, and he has been on the ice for 96 percent of the time the team has enjoyed the man advantage.
His absence from his left dot office proved to be a job that no temp could fill on this night.
The Caps fell into an early 3-0 ditch before the first television timeout of the first period, but gamely clawed their way back into the contest and pulled even on an Evgeny Kuznetsov goal early in the third. But Washington also had a chance to seize the lead with a pair of late power play opportunities. Not only did it fail to do so, it was unable to generate a shot on net in its six minutes of extra man time on Wednesday.
Worse, it surrendered the go-ahead goal 20 seconds into that final power play, losing control of the puck in the offensive zone after winning the draw to start the man advantage.
"It was a pass that went cross-ice, and it bounced a little bit funny," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the offensive-zone turnover that led to Nugent-Hopkins' shorthanded game-winner. "They pressured, and it went back the other way pretty quick on the rush.
"I didn't look at it again, but there was a shot and then something happened, and it popped to the far post and he was sitting there on the back post."
The Caps still had 100 seconds worth of power play time after Edmonton forged ahead, but to no avail. The Washington power play, which had scored in consecutive games for the first time in just over two months and appeared to possibly be on the climb, was ineffective without Ovechkin.
Net Loss -Since Henrik Lundqvist was forced into retirement by a heart issue before he could even make his Caps debut just over a year ago, Washington has relied heavily upon the youthful goaltending tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. Both have had their ups and downs, both have shown flashes of excellence, but both have also lacked the consistency needed over the long haul of an NHL season and the subsequent Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vanecek had been in the midst of a strong stretch for nearly two months when he was suddenly removed early in the first period of Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh. Vanecek bore the brunt of a collision with Pens winger Kasperi Kapanen, who bowled over the Washington netminder at full speed, resulting in an upper body injury and the sudden insertion of Samsonov in relief.
Samsonov, who was in the midst of a cold spell and hadn't won in calendar 2022, was brilliant in a relief effort in which he was peppered with 45 shots in under 60 minutes of work. He stopped 43 of those shots - including all 33 he faced at even strength - to earn his first victory since Dec. 31. In the process, he set an NHL record for most saves in a relief win.
That uplifting performance led Laviolette to give Samsonov the rare opportunity to start against Edmonton a night later, the first time in Samsonov's three-year NHL career that he played on consecutive nights.
It didn't go well.
Samsonov was back on the bench with a ballcap on at 5:07 of the first after being dented for three goals on the Oilers' first four shots of the game. Enter Pheonix Copley, who had been added to Washington's taxi squad that morning, the final day of the taxi squad's existence around the NHL. Copley was promoted to the active roster later in the day when the Caps elected not to dress Vanecek for precautionary reasons.
Suddenly thrust into his first NHL game in nearly three seasons and looking up at a three-goal deficit, Copley gave the Caps everything a team hopes for in that situation, a chance to climb back into the contest. He stopped 21 of 22 shots in his first NHL appearance since April 8, 2019.
"Definitely it was nice to get back on the ice and to get into a game again," says Copley. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to pull out the win, but it was nice to be back out there for sure."
Capital Youth - While the Caps weren't able to adequately replace Ovechkin's looming presence on the power play, rookie winger Joe Snively showed well in Ovechkin's stead on the team's top forward line with Kuznetsov and Wilson at 5-on-5. Playing in his fourth NHL game and his third consecutively, Snively logged a single-game career high of 13:11 on Wednesday. He was swift and noticeable, he was engaged and creative, and on his final shift of the second period he had a pair of golden opportunities to score his first NHL goal, only to be denied by Oilers netminder Mikko Koskinen.
Snively, who grew up and played youth hockey in the Washington area, was tied for third in the AHL's scoring race when he was recalled from AHL Hershey last week.
"I thought it was good," says Laviolette. "I thought he played a good game; he brings energy, he has skill. He could have scored a couple of goals tonight. I thought he did a good job of contributing. I thought he made an impact in the game, a positive impact."
Unhappy Trails - Back on Jan. 16, the Caps jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in a home game against Vancouver, getting a power-play goal from Ovechkin in the first period. But by the first minute of the second period, Vancouver had tied the game and would go on to a 4-2 victory.
Since that first period lead evaporated on that night nearly three weeks ago, the Caps have played more than five full games without owning a lead in a home game, a span of 341 minutes and 6 seconds of playing time.
With Wednesday's loss, the Caps fell to 12-8-5 on home ice this season. They've lost three straight in regulation at home, and are 2-5-1 at Capital One Arena since the calendar flipped to 2022. Washington's last regulation win at home came on Dec. 29 vs. Nashville.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were in action on Wednesday night as well, hosting the Hartford Wolf Pack at Giant Center. The Bears came out on the short end of a 3-2 shootout decision.
Trailing 1-0 late in the first, the Bears pulled even on Tobias Geisser's third goal of the season at 18:00 of the opening period, Brian Pinho and Cody Franson assisting.
Midway through the second, Hershey forged ahead on Beck Malenstyn's third goal of the season. Kody Clark and Eddie Wittchow assisted on the go-ahead goal at 10:20 of the second.
But Hartford evened the game with 4:20 left in regulation and prevailed in the shootout. Zach Fucale (6-4-4) stopped 26 of 28 shots in a losing effort for the Bears. Hershey is back in action on Friday night in Cleveland against the Monsters.
By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Caps with 22:18 in ice time … Wilson led the Caps with four shots on net … Carlson led the Caps with six shot attempts … Garnet Hathaway led the Capitals with four hits … Trevor van Riemsdyk blocked three shots to lead Washington … Nic Dowd won nine of 13 face-offs (69 percent) and Nicklas Backstrom won 11 of 18 (61 percent).