POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Oilers 4, Caps 1

Toil And Trouble - Early in the 2018-19 season, the Edmonton Oilers have been scuffling to score, particularly at five-on-five. The Oilers entered Thursday's game with the Capitals with just nine five-on-five goals on the season, tied for last in the league.

The Caps limited the Oilers to just one even-strength goal in Thursday's game, but Edmonton managed a couple of special teams strikes and an empty-netter en route to a 4-1 win over Washington.
Edmonton was 1-for-4 on the power play, scoring with three seconds remaining on its first extra-man opportunity of the game. But the turning point of the contest came just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period when Washington went on what turned out to be its only power play of the game. With the Caps trailing 1-0 at that point, they had a chance to tie the game. But instead, the Oilers converted a John Carlson turnover into a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shorthanded goal and a 2-0 Edmonton lead.
Washington was down 2-1 heading into the third, but a couple of bench minors - one for a face-off violation and another for an unexplained delay of game - impeded their ability to mount a late comeback.
"We knew coming in that their power play was clicking," says Caps winger Chandler Stephenson, "so we tried to stay out of the box but I don't really know if you can do too much about the penalties we had - the face-off one and the line change. They didn't really communicate well, so those are tough breaks."
Those were tough breaks to be sure, but the Oilers were also the better team on this night. Edmonton defended well, blocking 25 shots and numerous Caps passing attempts as well. Caps goalie Braden Holtby stopped Oilers superstar Connor McDavid three times in one-on-one situations - once in each period - but Edmonton's supporting cast came through with enough offense to get the job done, and McDavid sealed the deal with a late empty-netter.
"They close quick and take away your time and space," says Stephenson, "so there has got to be movement and making smart decisions. They're a good team over there."
The Opening Of The Box - Thursday's game marked the sixth straight contest in which Washington has yielded at least one power-play goal to the opposition. The Caps have permitted at least one power-play goal in seven of nine games this season, and their penalty killing outfit ranks 25th in the league with a kill rate of 72.2% on the season.
"I thought we were able to create some momentum and to make it difficult," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of his team's work when down a man on Thursday. "They have a good power play and some dangerous players, and they get one at the end of the power play opportunity early in the game. I thought the rest of the way we actually did a pretty decent job of disrupting, taking some time and space away from them, and then really getting up ice and even getting some offense the other way. Again, it's coming up on game 10 here, and it's definitely a work in progress in that department. We can be better for sure in that regard."
The Caps' penalty killing unit also struggled early last year, going 33-for-45 (73.3%) over the first 10 games of the season.
Something To Soften The Blow - Caps winger Andre Burakovsky netted his first goal of the season on Thursday, accounting for all of Washington's scoring in the game. He took a feed from linemate Nic Dowd and beat Oilers goalie Cam Talbot midway through the second period.
"I felt like his game was coming; I talked about it earlier today," says Reirden. "I thought in Vancouver he did some really good things and I tried to slot him up with some different guys, just because I felt he was really going tonight. He could have had a couple of other goals as well, but he made some good plays. For me, it's about really having a differential in the chances for versus the chances against. For a guy like him, they should be tilted in an offensive way and I think we're getting closer to that."
Coming into this season, Burakovsky had skated a grand total of 20 seconds worth of shorthanded ice time over his 252 games in the NHL. He logged 78 seconds while the Caps were shorthanded in an Oct. 4 game against Pittsburgh this season, and was also briefly deployed in that role in Thursday's loss to the Oilers, finishing the night with 1:24 worth of shorthanded ice time.
"I thought his legs were going tonight and I thought he was good in that situation," says Reirden of his decision to use Burakovsky on then shorthanded unit. "We were behind in the game and I was looking to use him and [Evgeny] Kuznetsov a little bit as well, and I thought they did a decent job at that. We haven't really been using [Burakovsky] on the power play this year, so he has been doing a little bit more killing in practice, and it's a different way to grow his game. He is such a young player and he is still so raw in many areas, but we can add different elements to make him a more complete player, and that's what we're going to do. Until we start to use him on the power play, we've got to find ways to get him out there because he is too good of a player to not be out there."
Kid Stuff - Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard netted his first NHL goal late in the first period of Thursday's game, notching the game's first goal on an Edmonton power play. At 19 years and 5 days, Bouchard is the youngest Oilers defenseman ever to score a goal.
By The Numbers -Matt Niskanen led the Caps with 24:32 in ice time … Burakovsky led the Capitals with five shots on net … John Carlson led Washington with nine shot attempts and four blocked shots … Devante Smith-Pelly led the Caps with six hits … Nicklas Backstrom won 10 of 14 draws (71%) and Dowd won six of 10 (60%).