Oilers blunt Caps rally, win 5-3

In Washington, DC, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a shorthanded goal and an empty-net goal in the third period to send the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-3 win over the Capitals on Wednesday night. “Obviously, you defend first (on the penalty kill) and don’t give anything up easy, but at the same time, you get a chance to go, and you’ve got to try to take advantage,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Usually, it’s just one guy up top, so you can get some 2-on-1s and at least just control the puck.”

Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves for the Oilers win.

“We’ve got things turned around. We’re finding enough goals to win,” Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said. “Koskinen has played real solid for us in [his past] five games, and we feel like we’re back going in the right direction.”

The Capitals surrendered three goals to the Oilers before rallying to tie the game, 3-3 on goals from Lars Eller, Conor Sheary, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

“Just got a little unlucky at the end and I felt like they felt a little more fresh, and you can feel that,” Kuznetsov said. “We had a tough game last night, and that is not an excuse, but at same time I like the way we responded after 3-0.”

The Cap fell to 25-13-9.

“It was tough, certainly not the way you want to start the game,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said. “You look up, and quickly in a game you’re down three. It’s a real high mountain to get back. I think it just lets the air out too on the bench and in the building. It makes it a little bit difficult.”

Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, and Connor McDavid (power play) for Edmonton in the first period outburst.

Edmonton improved to 23-16-3.

“I think just as a team we want to shoot more and get more pucks to the net, especially with a guy coming on a back-to-back,” the Oilers’ Zach Hyman said. “For sure, I think it was important to get pucks on him and luckily a couple went in there.”