GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Capitals 0

WASHINGTON, DC – The Edmonton Oilers earned a decisive victory in the USA's capital on American Thanksgiving weekend, shutting out the Washington Capitals 5-0 at Capital One Arena on Friday afternoon to close out their four-game road trip with two points.

The Blue & Orange took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission off goals from Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before converting three-of-four power plays in the middle frame to put the contest out of reach.

Leon Draisaitl notched two of those tallies on the man advantage as part of a three-point afternoon for the German – with his first of the day coming off a terrific set play with captain Connor McDavid.

Stuart Skinner secured his third-career shutout with 25 saves while Connor McDavid played provider all afternoon, contributing four assists as the First Star in the victory. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins posted a goal and two assists, including his first goal in 15 games on an impressive showing of hand-eye coordination to bat home Edmonton's second goal in the second period.

"I think we played with a lot of speed," Skinner said. "We hemmed them in their zone for a good amount of time, and whenever the puck came back to our end, I think our forwards did a great job on skating back, tracking back, and that takes a lot of selflessness. So that was very important. And the D had great gaps all night."

The Oilers return to Rogers Place on Sunday following their four-game road trip for a tilt against the Anaheim Ducks.

"It feels good. It's always nice to get a win to finish a road trip," Draisaitl said. "Obviously one good game for us, but this League is about doing it over and over again, so we're just looking to go home, reset and put another good game together."

FIRST PERIOD

On Friday afternoon, the Oilers opened the scoring and took a 2-0 lead in the first period for the third time on their four-game road trip.

"I think we just simplified it a little bit," Draisaitl said. "I thought early on, put them on their heels a little bit and that set the precedent for the rest of the game. All in all, I just think that we started well and just kept it simple."

Edmonton peppered Washington's netminder Charlie Lindgren for 22 shots over the first 20 minutes and got a much-deserved opening goal off a bit of individual brilliance from Draisaitl and a powerful finish in the crease from Kane.

The German, playing between Kane and former Washington forward Connor Brown on the second line, button-turned along the half-boards and protected the puck with his imposing 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame before delivering a back-hand pass into the Capitals' crease where Kane was positioned smartly to finish the play on the second try.

The 32-year-old is second in goals on the Oilers with nine after breaking the deadlock with 5:50 remaining in the first period.

The Blue & Orange have been the victim of some fast two-goal stretches from their opponents this season and they flipped the script just 1:14 later after Nugent-Hopkins scored on a beautiful baseball swing below the crossbar.

The puck bounced high up in the air off Lindgren's stick after Connor McDavid tried to wrap a pass in front, and with the Capitals' goalie being unable to pick up sight of the puck, Nugent-Hopkins had the time in front of the blue paint to line up his swing and send home his fourth goal of the season and first tally in 15 games.

The referees would review the play for a high stick, but the 2-0 goal would stand before the first intermission hit in D.C.

"I think the most important thing was our start," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I thought we had a good [third] period in Carolina, and I think we just carried that over. All four lines and all the defencemen. Nothing too fancy; just keeping a simple game and playing hard."

SECOND PERIOD

The power play came alive for the Oilers in the middle frame to give the Blue & Orange full control in America's capital city.

Edmonton's power play was 0-for-8 on this road trip before Zach Hyman broke the cold streak in Carolina during a tough defeat in Raleigh on Wednesday.

They were 1-for-12 coming into Friday afternoon, and after Alex Ovechkin took a high-sticking call on Vincent Desharnais at the end of the first period, there wasn't much the Capitals could do to slow down Edmonton's man advantage.

Draisaitl would start off a three-goal second period for their power play and a three-point frame for himself by winning an offensive-zone draw that led to Bouchard's blast that beat Lindgren clean at 16:16 of the period for his fifth goal of the campaign with Zach Hyman providing the screen in front.

Draisaitl hadn't scored a power-play goal in 15 games until he found the back of the net twice on the man advantage in the second period, with the German working his patented set play with McDavid to perfection for his first of the afternoon.

With his back to the Washington net, Draisaitl accepted a half-board feed from McDavid in the left circle before spinning around and ripping Edmonton's fourth goal of the game beyond Lindgren to extend his point streak to three games.

Draisaitl pointed to Connor Brown on the bench as a nod to a fun feud the two had earlier in the week when his linemate tried to claim the move was something he invented during his Erier Otter days.

"Obviously Connor and I, we've scored a couple of goals like that before and Brownie a couple of days ago dared to say that he invented the play in junior I guess," Draisaitl said. "So we've been dying to score one of those here, and obviously it was great timing.

"So yeah, kudos to Brownie for inventing it," he finished with a smile.

Draisaitl cleaned up a terrific 3-for-4 period for the power play in the final two minutes of the period by cleaning up Hyman's no-look pass from in front after the Oilers caused plenty of chaos in front of Lindgren, leaving the German with a routine snap shot over from the left circle over the Capitals netminder who was left with no chance while stretched out on the ice.

"Special teams was a big part of the story tonight," Knoblauch said. "I believe we had five kills tonight, a few block shots, and I know [Desharnais] had the huge one at the end. But obviously, the three power-play goals make it a lot easier. I think we had a 2-0 lead with the even strength goals and then, we kind of eliminated any chance for them to get back in the game with the power play."

The offence from the Oilers made the afternoon a lot easier for their netminder, who was steady through 40 minutes with 17 saves.

"I thought he was good," Draisaitl said of his netminder. "He made some great timely saves for us. I thought the team in front of him was really good as well."

THIRD PERIOD

Alexander Ovechkin is 67 goals away from Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record of 894, and much to the chagrin of the Capitals' fans, they'll have to wait longer to see another.

The fans gave out their best cheer of the afternoon when Ovechkin pounded a shot right off a faceoff in the first half of the final frame, but they didn't hear the whistle blow from a face-off violation, making for a quiet return to their seats after the referees waved it off.

"It's tough. He's a heck of a player," Skinner said of facing Ovechkin. "There's a reason why he's got so many goals. I said to somebody else, I got pretty lucky with the linesman calling that for me when he ended up scoring. It was a heck of a shot and then they called it off, so it's big. Thanks to the linesman for me, but he's a heck of a player. He's always coming around trying to say that he's going to score and it's always fun playing against him."

Prior to Friday, the Capitals were 9-1-1 in their last 11 games, winning five straight.

Edmonton would see out their first win in four games and head back to Edmonton with two out of eight points after concluding their four-game trip with a shutout from Skinner, who rebounded beautifully from a tough night in Carolina a few days prior.

"Very good," Knoblauch said of his game. "I think our team played a lot better in front of him tonight not giving up the chances that we did in his previous two starts. But obviously, there's confidence in that. He can be a good goaltender, and you don't have the season that he had last year without having a lot of talent.

"So for him, to be able to put that behind him the last two previous starts, it's not surprising because there's a lot of belief within himself, the coaching staff and the players in the room that he can get the job done."

PARTING WORDS

Draisaitl on being able to build on this victory and a road trip with mixed results:

"Yeah, I certainly think so. I think both first periods in Tampa and Florida were really good periods and we just kind of relapsed a little bit after that. But a lot of tight games. Obviously would have liked the goals against to be a little lower, but again, tonight's a good step and we'll try to build off it."

"We've got a lot of guys in here that care a lot, and I think sometimes that's a little misunderstood toward the outside, which obviously is unfortunate, but we care a lot. We want to win here. Has there been times or games where it hasn't gone our way as a leadership group? Yeah, of course. Have we been at our best all year? Absolutely not. But there's a lot of pride in this room and this tonight was a good step."

Skinner on the bounce-back effort for himself and his team after losing the first three games of the road trip:

"Yeah, sometimes it's harder than maybe it looks. Sometimes, you know exactly how you're going to show up the next day. For this one, it was just being able to rest, kind of throw that one away and just knowing who I am, knowing my game and just sticking to it and I think that was big for me. It's nice. After getting pulled in the first few minutes, to get a shutout it really feels good."

Knoblauch on the things that will give the Oilers confidence moving forward:

"I think previously you could see a lot of frustration on the power play. Getting three power-play goals and the passes and the plays that they were making, they look like they're kind of out of that funk. I think most importantly with our team play is how well we checked and the chances that we gave up tonight. There's going to be breakdowns, there are going to be chances that we give up, and we need our goaltending to make some big saves. Certainly, that happened tonight. It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot more of what we wanted or what we needed."