*Photo from Sportsnaut*
The Washington Capitals just needed something, anything to go right. Things finally did. Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist, Evgeny Kuznetsov had a 4 point game, and the Capitals defeated the Edmonton Oilers with a 5-4 victory on Monday night in Washington.
Entering Monday's home tilt in the midst of a 0-2-2 stretch, the Capitals rode the strength of the power play, scoring 4 times on the man advantage to get the streak snapping win. Besides Ovechkin and Kuznetsov, Dylan Strome contributed two goals, and Erik Gustafsson finished with 3 assists.
Kuznetsov said after the game that "Definitely tomorrow morning will be better than last eight mornings, probably. I felt like we play good but not good enough for wins lately. This win will give us big breath and we can breathe a little bit and coaches can finally show us some positive moments, because that's big when you come in next morning."
The only goal of the first period came from Strome, who scored unassisted with 1:45 left in the period. Strome then scored just 26 seconds into the second period on the power play to make it 2-0. Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers before Kuznetsov netted a power play goal. Goals by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Edmonton and Ovechkin for the Capitals made it a 4-2 Capitals lead after two periods.
Early on in the 3rd period, Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers, cutting the deficit to 4-3 on his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Zach Hyman and Evander Kane. Kuznetsov scored on the power play at the 18:09 mark to make it 5-3, with Nugent-Hopkins scoring 45 seconds later to cut the deficit to 5-4. The Capitals held on from that point.
Kuznetsov said of the win that "I’m hoping that we’re going to build after this game for sure because that’s a pretty good team and I felt like even when we give up goal we was never giving up. We were always positive on the bench, we always support each other because we missing a lot of guys, a lot of D guys, and they stepped up today."
Getting the start in net for the Capitals was backup goalie Charlie Lindgren, who picked up the win to improve his record to 2-1-1 on the season. Lindgren stopped 25 of 29 shots Edmonton sent his way, good for a .862 save percentage.
Starting for the Oilers opposite Lindgren was their backup goalie, Stuart Skinner. He got tagged with the loss, saving 26 out of the 31 shots the Capitals sent on goal, recording a .839 save percentage. Skinner's record dropped to 2-3-0 so far this season.
Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said of the loss that "You can't give up four power-play goals in a game an expect to win it. Flat out not good enough on the penalty kill. I'd also say we put ourselves in positions to take those penalties that, you know, I didn't think that all of them we needed to take."
Up next, the Oilers are back in action Tuesday to complete a back to back, with Jack Campbell getting the start against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Capitals face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, with Darcy Kuemper expected to start.
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