Caps Fall 4-1 to Oilers

For the first time in the span of 99 regular season games, the Washington Capitals find themselves with consecutive regulation losses. The Caps' four-game western Canada road trip got off on the wrong foot on Wednesday night in Edmonton in 4-1 loss to the Oilers.

Wednesday's setback came on the heels of Saturday's home ice loss to the New York Rangers, saddling the Capitals with consecutive regulation losses for the first time since March 11-13, 2015. In between those sets of twin regulation defeats, the Caps rolled up an impressive 68-21-10 record.

The Caps will sit on this loss for the next two days, then they'll face the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday, seeking to avoid their first string of three straight regulation losses since February of 2015.

"We need that game, and it starts with our performance," says Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen of Saturday's game against the Canucks. "We've got to perform better. Guys need to do their jobs. It's a little uncomfortable tonight in here after the game, so we'll regroup and really get after that game in Vancouver."

Both the Caps and the Oilers had a pair of power play chances in the first period, but the two sides played a scoreless first frame. The Capitals got the looks and chances they'd like on their two extra-man opportunities in the first, but they weren't able to finish. Edmonton goaltender Cam Talbot, coming off a shutout in his previous start, looked a bit shaky early in the game. He scissor-handed more than a couple of pucks with his catching glove in the first 40 minutes, but the Caps missed the net on some of their better chances.

The Caps played perhaps their best second period of the last three games, but that's more an indictment of the two middle frames that preceded Wednesday night's second stanza. Washington surrendered a pair of rather excruciating goals in the second against the Oilers, the kind that drives coaches crazy. Both Edmonton goals came within 15 seconds of Washington face-off wins in the Oilers' end of the ice.

Shortly after the first television timeout of the second period, Edmonton forged a 1-0 lead.

Washington had control of the puck after an offensive zone draw, and Alex Ovechkin tried to push it back to Dmitry Orlov at the blueline. But the pass was picked off by Edmonton center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who carried up ice and into the Washington zone in a two-on-two situation. Nugent-Hopkins shook Orlov with a neat outside-inside shimmy just after gaining the zone, and he cut to the middle of the ice and released a shot from the slot. The shot glanced off the leg of Edmonton's Benoit Pouliot and just inside the far post, past Caps goaltender Braden Holtby for a 1-0 Oilers lead at 7:48.

Only eight seconds elapsed between the drop of the puck in the Edmonton zone and the lighting of the lamp at the Washington end of the ice.

In the waning minutes of the period, the Oilers scored in similar fashion, going the length of the ice to score after losing a draw in their own end. Evgeny Kuznetsov won the face-off in the Edmonton end, drawing it back to Karl Alzner at the left point. Alzner let go of a shot, and Talbot made the stop. Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom scooped the puck up and started it off toward the Washington end. Holtby made a save on Nugent-Hopkins from the slot, and Pouliot missed wide with a follow-up try. But Pouliot went behind the net and flipped the puck back toward the front, banking it off Holtby's back and into the net for a 2-0 Edmonton lead with 2:52 remaining in the second.

"The first one obviously is more of a fluke," says Holtby of the Oilers' two second-period goals. "[Caps defenseman John Carlson] did a great job of getting his stick on it. It hits the guy's shin pads and hits the post and in. You play that 100 times, it stays out of your net 99. The second one, obviously we'd like to be a little better coverage-wise, but it happens sometimes."

The Caps weren't able to carve into that deficit with a late second-period power play, but they did halve the Edmonton lead and halt Talbot's shutout streak at 136 minutes and 32 seconds.

A mere nine seconds after the start of the third period, Ovechkin netted his fourth goal in as many games, banging a shot behind Talbot from the top of the paint. On the next shift, Orlov's shot narrowly missed the far post, but instead of pulling even, the Caps quickly found themselves down two once again.

Seconds after Orlov's miss, the Caps found themselves defending a three-on-two rush out of the Edmonton zone. Connor McDavid turned on the jets and got around Carlson, making a play to Jesse Puljujarvi at the back door. The Caps dodged a bullet when Puljujarvi's shot rang iron, but Patrick Maroon was first to the rebound and he buried it to restore Edmonton's two-goal cushion just 76 seconds after Ovechkin's goal.

Any hope of a Washington comeback was nipped when the Caps got into some third-period penalty trouble, taking a pair of minors in the middle of the period. Milan Lucic scored a power-play goal for the Oilers at 9:57 of the third, closing out the scoring with a deflection of an Andrej Sekera center point shot.

"You look at the goals," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "The first two goals, we win an offensive-zone face-off and it ends up in our net. We just need a little more push from the whole group. We're going to have to get a little more greasy, get some of those greasy goals.

"I thought we jumped back, obviously got a quick goal in the third to get right back in there, feeling pretty good. And then we give up another goal off the rush there where they dumped it in and we didn't go the distance on a couple guys and they get a rebound and stick it in the net."

The Caps will take Thursday off before reconvening for a Friday practice in preparation for Saturday's game in Vancouver.
Double Downed -After Wednesday night's 4-1 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton, the Capitals find themselves in unfamiliar territory. For the first time in more than 19 months, the Caps have gone consecutive regular season games without earning a point in the standings.

Coupled with last Saturday's 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Verizon Center, the Capitals have now lost consecutive regular season games in regulation for the first time since March 11-13, 2015.

In between those successive setbacks at the hands of the Rangers and Dallas Stars, respectively, more than 19 months ago, the Capitals stacked up a lofty 68-21-10 record over a stretch of 99 games spread over parts of three seasons.

Last season, Washington became the first team since the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens to get through an entire NHL season without losing two straight games in regulation.

Everyone knew this streak would eventually come to an end. Now that it has, we should also take a moment to appreciate it. It was a remarkable run, and it may be quite a while before we see another one that approaches it.

Second Struggles - For the second straight game, the Caps' opponent hung a crooked number on the scoreboard in the game's second period. After a scoreless first 20 minutes in which each side had a pair of power play chances, the Oilers scored twice on seven shots on goal in the second. In Saturday's loss to the Rangers, the Caps yielded three second-period goals on just five shots.

Washington played a much better second period on Wednesday, holding the advantage in territory and possession, but still falling into a two-goal hole. That both of those Edmonton goals in the middle frame on Wednesday came less than 15 seconds after Washington won an offensive-zone draw was especially vexing.

Heading into Wednesday's game with the Oilers, Trotz tweaked the right side of his top two forward lines, and the newly cobbled trio of Alex Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky flanking Evgeny Kuznetsov was on the ice for those two Edmonton goals, both of which came from Benoit Pouliot with help from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"Well I thought it was fine, except the two plays that Kuzy's line was on when Nugent-Hopkins' line scored," responds Trotz, when asked how he though his line tweaks worked out. "We won the draw cleanly, we get a scoring chance and then they come down and get what I thought was a fortunate goal or a weak goal."

With Ovechkin's goal just nine seconds into the third period, the Caps narrowed the deficit to a single goal. But Edmonton restored its two-goal cushion on the next shift, and when the Oilers netted a power-play marker in the middle of the third, Washington was looking up at its first three-goal deficit of the season.

"You can't let your foot off the gas in this league or you find yourself in a hole sometimes," says Trotz. "Those key moments after we score a goal, you've got to build some momentum and they got it right back. We gave it right back to them when they got that third goal. I thought that second goal gave us a little bit of a hurt. I thought our play was coming, our play was coming - they really didn't have anything that period and they came down and scored. They had two chances and scored two goals. They're not coming easy, so it's all right. We'll have a little adversity and it will hopefully make us better there."

Four Score - Ovechkin netted Washington's lone goal of the game, marking his fourth straight game with a goal. He had a four-game goal-scoring run from Feb. 7-13 of last season, tallying six times in those four contests. Ovechkin opened up the 2015-16 season with a five-game goal-scoring streak.

On Saturday in Vancouver, the Caps' captain gets his next chance to extend his streak. Ovechkin's career best goal-scoring run came more than a decade ago, during the back half of his rookie season in the NHL. From Feb. 10-March 8, 2006, he scored exactly one goal in seven straight contests.

Special Suffering - The Caps were 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill in Wednesday's loss to the Oilers. Washington created strong looks and chances on its two first-period power plays, teeing up a total of 13 shot attempts during those four minutes. Five of those shot tries were on net and five more - including some of the best looks and chances - missed the mark.

Washington has scored a power-play goal in only one of its six games this season, and has been perfect on the penalty kill only once in half a dozen games as well. Both of those occurrences came in the same game, the Capitals' 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Verizon Center on Oct. 18.

The Caps are 2-2-1 in the five games in which they gave up a power-play goal without scoring one. Last season, the Capitals had only 13 such games all season. They were 6-6-1 in 2015-16 when failing to score on the power play while surrendering at least one power play goal in the same game.

In 2015-16, the Caps didn't have their fifth "no PPG while giving up at least one PPG against" game until mid-December, in their 30th game of the season.

Finally, some quick math tells us the Caps went 50-12-7 in 2015-16 games in which they had one or the other or both special teams "going." Wow.

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears spent Wednesday night on the road in Hartford, where they absorbed a 3-2 loss to the Wolf Pack in front of a sparse crowd of 1,429.

Bears blueliner Tyler Lewington started the scoring with his first goal of the season at 15:42 of the first period, getting help from Riley Barber and Aaron Ness.

Hartford tallied twice in a span of 55 seconds in the middle of the second period, with former Bear and ex-Capital Chris Brown netting the first of those two goals on a Wolf Pack power play.

Only 82 seconds after the Wolf Pack took the lead, Hershey squared the game at 2-2 on Paul Carey's goal at 9:41, Ness and Travis Boyd assisting.

After a scoreless third period, Ryan Graves' goal at 2:35 of overtime gave the Wolf Pack the victory. Joe Cannata made 32 stops in the Hershey nets as the Bears dropped to 1-2-2 on the young season.

The Bears are back in action next on Saturday night when they return home to host the Binghamton Senators at Giant Center on Saturday night. Hershey is also at home on Sunday when it tangles with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 5 p.m.

By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Capitals with 23:19 in ice time … T.J. Oshie led the Caps with five shots on net and eight shot attempts … Ovechkin led the Caps with five hits … Karl Alzner led Washington with three blocked shots … Lars Eller won five of six face-offs (83%).