LDN - Sports

Oilers top Caps to continue strong start

[October 27, 2016] EDMONTON, Alberta -- After a decade removed from the playoffs, nobody wants to get too excited yet, but the Edmonton Oilers have certainly launched the season in the way that they wanted.

Benoit Pouliot led the way with a pair of goals as the Oilers continued their surprisingly strong start to the season, emerging with a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

Milan Lucic and Patrick Maroon also scored for the Oilers (6-1-0), who won their fourth game in a row.

"We knew coming into the season that we had a chance to establish ourselves at home in October," said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had two assist in the game, of Edmonton's 4-1-0 home record this year. "We've had that opportunity before and haven't taken advantage of it.

"Starts are key, they can set you up for the season and so far it's going well."

Doing it against a well-respected Washington squad also speaks volumes about how well it has gone in the early running.

"I think that we played a heck of a game," said Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, who made 34 saves. "This team can beat you in a run and gun game or in a tight close game. We did a great job eliminating their top guys tonight and played a heck of a game on our end."

Alex Ovechkin scored in response for the Capitals (3-2-1), who have dropped two straight.

"I think in the second period, we had pretty good chances, but I made a turnover and a bad play," Ovechkin said. "They were almost waiting for a mistake, they have skilled guys up front and we didn't use our strength in front of our net.

"They scored the first goal and then the second and in the third, we scored right away. Then they scored another one. We didn't execute our plays, we made bad decisions and it cost us the game.

There was no scoring in the first period with the best chances coming on Washington's two power plays, but Talbot continued to display the kind of play that earned him the NHL first star of the week honors on Monday.

Washington had a glorious chance six minutes into the second period as Ovechkin had a partial breakaway, but had his stick lifted by Oilers rookie Jesse Puljujarvi.

Despite being outshot 9-0 to that point of the period, the Oilers scored first as Nugent-Hopkins picked off a pass and sped up ice before taking a long shot that ticked off of Pouliot in front and past Capitals goalie Braden Holtby 7:48 into the second period. It was Pouliot's second goal of the season.

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Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) and Washington Capitals defensemen Dmitri Orlov (9) chase a loose puck during the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

He got his third goal at the 17:08 mark of the middle frame, taking a hopeful shot from behind the net that banked off of Holtby and into the net to give Edmonton the 2-0 lead.

The Capitals came right back to start the third period as Ovechkin poked in his fourth goal of the season, and for the fourth straight game.

The Oilers came right back, however, as Maroon was able to deposit home the rebound from a Holtby save on Puljujarvi to make it 3-1 just over a minute later.

Edmonton then added its lead midway through the third, as an Andrej Sekera shot was tipped into the net by Lucic in front on the power play. Connor McDavid picked up his second assist of the game on the goal to give him 11 points in seven games.

"It was a lot closer game than the score said," Holtby said. "Today, you look at the goals and the Hockey Gods didn't want us to win this one. You move on and look forward to Vancouver."

NOTES: Both teams head to Vancouver for their next games, with the Oilers visiting on Friday and the Capitals playing there on Saturday. ... It was the start of a four-game Western Canadian road trip for the Capitals, their second-longest trip of the season. ... Washington went through the entire 2015-16 regular season without suffering back-to-back regulation losses, the first NHL team to do so since the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens. ... Out with injuries for the Oilers were F Drake Caggiula (hip), F Matt Hendricks (lower body), F Iiro Pakarinen (knee), D Brandon Davidson (upper body) and D Mark Fayne (lower body). Scratched for the contest with the Caps were F Anton Slepyshev and D Matthew Benning. ... The Capitals, who have no listed injuries at the moment, scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Brett Connolly.

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