The Washington Capitals entered Wednesday nights game in Edmonton with a 3-0-2 record, good enough for first place in the Metro Division. The Capitals have squeaked out a point in every game so far this year and have been playing, for the most part, pretty good hockey.
That continued last night, as the Caps completely outplayed the Edmonton Oilers in three periods of hockey, however, the Oilers stole a 3-2 win away from Washington with stellar goaltending from Ben Scrivens and by capitalizing on costly Washington turnovers.
The Caps were up 2-1 off a goal from defenseman Mike Green off of an Andre Burakovsky pass. The Capitals looked to be comfortable at that point, until about 20 seconds later when Alex Ovechkin lost control of the puck and had it stolen off of his stick by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who took the puck end-to-end for an unassisted, game-tying goal.
The Oilers would add a power-play goal by Nikita Nikitin late in the second and that's all they needed as Ben Scrivens stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third, including a late-surge by the Caps with Braden Holtby pulled. Alex Ovechkin had a few oppurtunities to tie the game, but Scrivens had an answer for every shot.
The highlight of the night was Nicklas Backstrom's 500th career NHL point, off an assist on the Caps first goal by John Carlson on the power play. That tied the game at 1 apiece, but Backstrom's celebration was short lived.
“It would have been nicer if we won,” Backstrom said after the game. “I don’t really think about it right now. I think we lost the game, our line, letting a goal in after a 2-1 lead. That’s where we were a little sloppy.”
In 501 career NHL games, Nicklas Backstrom has 128 goals and 372 assists.
Backstrom was right in his assessment of the game. The Caps did get sloppy after getting that 2-1 lead. The Edmonton Oilers aren't exactly the cream-of-the-crop in the NHL, and the Caps seemed to give them way too much room and not enough credit for how talented the Oilers can be when they decide to play.
Braden Holtby stopped 17 of 20 Edmonton shots and looked like he over-committed on the RNH goal. The game-winner by Nikitin was not Holtby's fault however, as he was screened in front by two Capitals players.
"It's your job as a goalie to make them beat you with a good shot and I opened up and misread the shot," Holtby said. "The puck went through me, through my seven hole [under right arm] and you can't get beat there. It was my job to make up for the turnover and I didn't."
Barry Trotz might go with Justin Peters on Saturday against Calgary as the Caps play Vancouver the next day to end their Western Canadian tour.
Ben Scrivens finished the game with 32 saves on 34 shots, and played his heart out for the win. Justin Schultz scored the Oilers first goal.
Barry Trotz liked what he saw, even though the Caps didn't give the Oilers too much credit.
"I thought we played well enough to win, but I don't think we managed the situations." Trotz said. "We had the lead and the momentum and then the next shift, we give up a goal and give them the momentum back. They had a little bit of fortune and we couldn't find the back of the net. We were a little bit loose in the first period, but we dictated much of the play in the second and third. They just came out ahead."
Brooks Laich did not make the trip as he is out with an upper body injury. Jay Beagle took his place on the second line.
Caps travel to Calgary on Saturday to play the Flames at 10ET.
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