Last night the Washington Capitals lost their third game of the season, 4-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. Through the first two periods the game was mostly a sleepy affair, with neither team getting much going and the Oilers gaining a two-goal lead off of a couple of deflections. Despite an Alex Ovechkin goal to start off the third period (his fourth of the season), the Caps couldn’t catch up and ultimately allowed another pair, resulting in their first losing streak in a long time.
How did the battles within the game go? Well, considering the final score, it was mostly okay for the boys from Washington. Shot attempts at five-on-five ended up being exactly tied at 45-45. The Caps actually out-attempted the Oilers overall, 64-57.
Here is the 5v5 game chart.
The Caps were mounting what looked like a push early in the third, before being short circuited by two ill-advised penalties, one of which led to a Milan Lucic goal. Washington went three out of four on the penalty kill.
So was it Benoit Pouliot and his two-goal night that crushed the Capitals? Nope. Surprise, it was the Oilers’ top line of wunderkind Connor McDavid, Lucic and Jordan Eberle. Let’s break down the matchups, and see where the Caps stand now that they sport a 3-2-1 record.
In the end this was a frustrating night for the Capitals, but it was in many ways a decent game. There are still no major warning signs in the way they are playing.
Headline Photo: Andy Devlin
Full Coverage of Caps at Oilers
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