PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Capitals

The Edmonton Oilers will host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night when they celebrate Women in Sport at Rogers Place.

During the game, a number of female leaders will be recognized for their dedication, accomplishments and contributions to the Canadian sports industry through pre-game panels, intermission interviews – in-game and on the broadcast – and other special features.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet One & West at 8:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Capitals

EDMONTON, AB – It’s been a completely different season for the Oilers since their last meeting with the Capitals more than three months ago.

Back on Nov. 24, the Oilers rolled into D.C. stuck near the bottom of the NHL standings, sitting 30^th overall with a 5-12-1 record that was far off what they’d hoped for early in the season a team that was expecting to be competing near the top of the Pacific Division, not the bottom.

With Kris Knoblauch behind the bench for no more than two weeks, the Blue & Orange had won two straight games over the Islanders and Kraken before losing three in a row on the east coast to the Lightning, Panthers and Hurricanes.

In the road trip's pivotal concluding contest at Capital One Arena against the Capitals, what transpired that evening for the Blue & Orange would be the catalyst for a complete turnaround to their season.

“If I was to point out a certain date on the calendar where things started to turn, I would say it was that game,” captain Connor McDavid said. “Just the feeling in the room, it was almost like, ‘What do we have to lose? Let’s just go out and play,’"

"We put together a good one there and we were able to string a few together to get us back into the mix."

McDavid managed four assists that evening as the Oilers shutout the Capitals 5-0, receiving 25 saves from Stuart Skinner, three-point nights from Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and a 3-for-4 performance from the power play.

The victory launched an eight-game win streak for the Oilers that would last until a small three-game lull, which was followed by a franchise-record 16-game win streak that came one game shy of tying the NHL record.

The Oilers are 34-9-2 since that low point of the season on Nov. 24 in Washington and are now able to refocus on bigger and better things, with their sights firmly set back on winning the Pacific Division after languishing near the League’s bottom for the first 18 games of the regular season.

“I think most of the time, you’re just focused on the day-to-day and who you’re playing next, but of course being higher in the standings gives you home-ice advantage in the playoffs,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “I think it’s good to have home ice, so it’s something to strive for and give us a little bit more motivation down the stretch here.”

Edmonton returned from their most recent four-game road trip with two victories, while going 4-1-1 over a stretch of six games in nine days that started with a 2-1 win in Seattle on Mar. 2 and ended in Pittsburgh this past Sunday with a 4-0 shutout win over the Penguins.

Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner shared the shutout – albeit with Pickard making all 41 saves in 58:44 of time between the pipes – and McDavid recorded a goal and two assists as the Oilers were able to quickly respond from Saturday's 3-2 shootout defeat to the Sabres by blanking of Sidney Crosby and the Penguins just 24 hours later.

“We should be very happy,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We went 4-1-1 in our last six and we were everywhere – Edmonton, Seattle, all the way to the east Coast in Boston – so a lot of trips.

"We were 4-1-1 and I don’t think it was our best hockey. I think our goaltending played really well, but I think through that stretch, with all the travel and games in that short amount of time, we can say we had that success and we should be pretty happy with it. But we want to build on that."

With a quiet stretch of two home games against the Capitals and Avalanche this week, the Oilers are taking the rest that's being offered to them and using the time to further acclimatize a few new players into their systems.

Monday was an off day for the team before they returned to practice at Rogers Place on Tuesday afternoon, which was the first home practice for all three of Edmonton's pre-deadline acquisitions in Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick and Troy Stecher, who has yet to suit up for the Oilers since being traded on Thursday from the Arizona Coyotes.

"After you play six games in nine days, you want a little breather and this gives us one with yesterday being a day off, today being a practice day, tomorrow a game, and then we’ve got another two days of practice time if we choose to before playing again on Saturday," Knoblauch said. "I think it’s a good reset for us and we’re running out of time on our season. There are only about five-and-a-half weeks left, 19 games I believe, so we’re kind of getting ready for that last push."

The Capitals were shut out 3-0 by the Jets in their last game on Monday and are locked into the fight for playoff spots in the Eastern Conference with a 30-24-9 record – three points back of the New York Islanders for the second Wild Card.

Alex Ovechkin isn't the same 60-goal scorer that used to terrorize the NHL, but the 38-year-old has scored 10 of his 18 goals this season in his last 17 games to leave himself two goals shy of reaching 20 goals for the 19th time in his career.

Gordie Howe eclipsed 20 goals a record 22 times over a legendary career that saw him play his final professional season at the age of 51, and Ovechkin will almost assuredly have to shatter that record if he's to catch Wayne Gretzky's all-time goalscoring record of 894. The Russian currently sits at 840 career goals.