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 It's a lesson the Washington Capitals taught the Edmonton Oilers on
Friday night in a 7-4 victory at Rexall Place.
Center Evgeny Kuznetsov led the red-hot Capitals with three goals
and two assists in their fifth straight win.
"It feels unbelievable," Kuznetsov said. "It's thanks to my
linemates. But the team game is more important to me. I'm just happy
with how we are doing right now."
The win improved Washington's record to 6-1 and gave the Capitals a
sweep of their three-game trip through western Canada.
"We knew it was a big road trip for us; it was our first road trip,"
Capitals right winger Alex Ovechkin said. "We're obviously happy to
take these points. We won and that's what we need to do. It was
great to get these six points on the road.
"They (the Oilers) are a skilled team and we showed them how skilled
we are as well."
The Oilers, who came into the game with a three-game win streak,
fell to 3-5.
"They're a very talented team and they took advantage of a team that
was sloppy in a lot of areas," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We
overwhelmed ourselves with stupidity in some situations. Too much
easy play all over the rink."
It was a goal-fest from the beginning, which is exactly what the
Capitals wanted.
"We knew it was a firepower team that was looking for odd man rushes
and we let it happen," Oilers left winger Taylor Hall said. "They
have a lot of skill and they're going to bury those.
"They have a lot of firepower up front and we didn't combat that
with strong, heady plays. We tried to play like them a little bit
and that's what they wanted."
Washington opened the scoring when Kuznetsov got behind the defense
at 3:05 of the first period.
Edmonton tied it on a goal from left winger Benoit Pouliot at 10:59.
The Capitals jumped back in front when center Nicklas Backstrom
scored 35 seconds into a power play at 12:07. Again, the Oilers
fought back to tie it with left winger Rob Klinkhammer's first goal
of the season at 15:00.
The Capitals made it 3-2 on left winger Marcus Johansson's goal at
19:39 of the first period.
The Oilers answered yet again on a power-play goal by rookie Connor
McDavid just 36 seconds into the second period. It was the center's
eighth point in eight games.
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The Capitals pulled away with three goals in five minutes to take a
6-3 lead. Kuznetsov scored on a breakaway, left winger Andre
Burakovsky made it 5-3 and right winger Justin Williams found the
net at 11:49.
"They made it hard for us," Backstrom said. "But in the second and
third period, we played better and tightened things up. I think
that's why we were able to close things out."
The three quick goals spelled the end for Oilers goalie Anders
Nilsson, who gave up six goals on 17 shots. But three were
breakaways, two were back-door tap-ins and the other was deflection
from the slot.
"We weren't ready to play and we made it pretty easy on them,"
Edmonton defenseman Eric Gryba said. "When you're playing against
the best players in the world and you give them easy nights, they're
going to look good and they're going to play good. It was far too
easy a game for them."
Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 6-4 at 14:42 of the second
period and Kuznetsov capped his banner night at 16:59
NOTES: The Oilers sent RW Andrew Miller back to AHL Bakersfield
after a one-game audition and recalled RW Iiro Pakarinen. ... With D
Griffin Reinhart injured, former captain, D Andrew Ference, played
his second straight game after spending five of the first six in the
press box. ... Oilers RW Nail Yakupov, after going a league-worst
minus-68 over the last two seasons, went plus-one in his first seven
games this season. ... Five goals in his first five games was the
longest goal streak to start a season in RW Alex Ovechkin's career.
His game-winner Thursday in Vancouver was his 81st, putting him
fourth among active players. ... The Capitals rank first in the NHL
in shots against per game (24.3). ... With Washington playing the
second of back-to-back games on the road, G Philipp Grubauer made
his first start of the season.
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