EDMONTON — Enjoying certainly one of their greatest video games of the season, the Washington Capitals notched a gutsy 3-2 win Monday evening by holding the harmful Edmonton Oilers principally in test and at last capitalizing on a shot-filled displaying.
Washington
Nic Dowd lets Caps capitalize late for an uplifting win in Edmonton
“It might need been Professional’s greatest recreation as a Washington Capital,” Coach Peter Laviolette mentioned of Protas, whom Laviolette praised for his defensive efforts towards the Oilers’ high line.
Washington improved to 11-12-4 general and 2-2-1 in its previous 5 video games. The Capitals conclude their six-game journey Wednesday in Philadelphia. They completed with a whopping 50 photographs on objective Monday and improved to 11-1-1 when scoring no less than 3 times to finish a season sweep of the Oilers following a raucous 5-4 win Nov. 7 at Capital One Enviornment. Edmonton fell to 14-12-0.
“That was massive,” Dowd mentioned. “We would have liked one thing constructive to occur there. It’s been a troublesome street journey.”
Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 28 saves. He was in internet after beginning netminder Darcy Kuemper suffered an upper-body damage in Saturday’s loss at Calgary. Kuemper is listed as day-to-day.
The banged-up Capitals had a couple of extra damage scares Monday. Ahead Marcus Johansson missed time within the first interval for undisclosed causes however performed his regular minutes for the remainder of the sport. Defenseman Erik Gustafsson took a tough crosscheck to the physique and briefly went to the dressing room late within the second however shortly returned to the bench.
Washington performed certainly one of its greatest first intervals of the season however ended up with nothing to indicate for it. The Capitals racked up 22 photographs on objective and shut down the Oilers’ highflying high line. The one factor lacking was a objective — Skinner held agency within the crease. The Capitals had eight photographs on objective throughout their first energy play, however Skinner turned all of them away.
“We did the correct issues within the first interval, and we had gotten away from that within the final couple video games,” Laviolette mentioned. “The sport had been dictated by the opponent, and I believed we did a superb job [Monday] of attempting to push it and attempting to manage the tempo.”
Defenseman Brett Kulak gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on some extent shot by means of site visitors at 1:44 of the second interval. The Capitals’ Lars Eller tied it at 7:25 with a pleasant particular person play. Robbed twice within the first interval, Eller obtained the puck on their lonesome in entrance after a pleasant feed from Sonny Milano and scored after some nifty stickhandling. It was his fourth objective of the season.
“It felt like, on our line, we’ve had alternatives to attain one, two objectives in so many video games, and we haven’t been rewarded. … It felt prefer it was coming, and I feel that we’ve much more to present nonetheless — however all the time a superb feeling to get on the board,” Eller mentioned.
Oilers famous person Connor McDavid put Edmonton up once more at 15:25: He took benefit of a turnover by defenseman John Carlson and blitzed down the ice for a shorthanded breakaway objective. Simply earlier than the person benefit expired, T.J. Oshie answered at 16:55 with a one-timer from the slot, setting the stage for Dowd’s game-winner within the third.
“We gave every thing we had, and it was sufficient as we speak,” Eller mentioned.
Right here’s what else to know in regards to the Capitals’ win:
Given the damage to Kuemper, the Capitals recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from the Hershey Bears, their American Hockey League affiliate. Shepard was Lindgren’s backup towards the Oilers.
Shepard, 27, was 6-0-2 for Hershey and was named the AHL’s goaltender of the month for November with a 6-0-0 document. He has a 1.83 objectives towards common and a .932 save share however has but to make his NHL debut.
Defenseman Martin Fehervary was positioned on injured reserve after he suffered an upper-body damage Saturday towards Calgary. Gamers on injured reserve should miss no less than seven days, so Fehervary is not going to be eligible to return any sooner than Sunday at Winnipeg.
Fehervary was damage within the second interval when he was hit alongside the boards by bodily Flames ahead Milan Lucic. Fehervary sported a sling on his left arm after the sport towards Calgary however didn’t have one on Monday evening.
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov missed his 14th straight recreation, persevering with an extended stint on injured reserve with a lower-body damage. Orlov has been making progress up to now week however has but to be medically cleared. Normal Supervisor Brian MacLellan mentioned over the weekend that Orlov’s damage has been arduous to diagnose and deal with.