POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Oilers 4, Caps 3 (OT)

Life Is Grand - With a goal and an assist in Washington's 4-3 overtime loss to the Oilers in Edmonton on Wednesday, Caps center Nicklas Backstrom reached the 1,000-point plateau for his NHL career. Backstrom achieved the milestone in his 1,037th career game in the League, joining teammate Alex Ovechkin as just the second player in franchise history to reach 1,000 points (263 goals, 737 assists).

A night earlier in Calgary, Backstrom and Ovechkin played in their 1,000th game as teammates, becoming just the ninth duo in NHL history to achieve that distinction. Backstrom is the 93rd player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points and the 40th player to achieve the feat with one franchise.
Backstrom actually got to experience his 1,000th point celebration twice; he set up a John Carlson goal on a Washington power play late in the second period and was immediately swarmed by his teammates. But Edmonton issued a coach's challenge, alleging that Backstrom himself was offside on the play, and video review showed that to be the case. The goal was nullified, and Backstrom was back at 999 points.
"All the guys came up and celebrated," recounts Backstrom. "I said right away, 'I think it's offside,' because I saw it bounce off [T.J. Oshie's] foot there. But yeah, it happens."
Not to worry, kid. With the Caps on another power play early in the third, Backstrom sent Oshie into Edmonton ice on a rush, and the winger scored from the right dot to legitimately lift Backstrom into the land of quadruple digits.
"I almost burned out my energy on the celebration of the first one," quips Oshie. "But what an amazing achievement. Guys just hope to play a game in this League, and then you hope to play a hundred, and you hope to play a thousand. And the thousand points, that's only for the few elite, so it's super impressive. The boys - and especially myself - are super happy for Nick on this accomplishment. I know there's going to be many more, but very, very impressive."
Backstrom becomes the first member of the 2006 NHL Draft class to reach 1,000 points and he is the sixth Swedish-born player in League history to reach the milestone. He joins Mats Sundin (1,349 points), Daniel Alfredsson (1,159), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142), Henrik Sedin (1,070) and Daniel Sedin (1,041) on that short list.
It's Not Too Late - Oshie had a hand in all of Washington's scoring on Wednesday night. In addition to his power-play goal that lifted Backstrom to 1,000 points, Oshie set up Backstrom's goal early in the second period, doing so while playing without a stick. The Caps were hemmed in their end for a bit, and Oshie's stick broke, so he ended up kicking the puck onto Anthony Mantha's stick blade and going to the bench for a change. Mantha fed Backstrom for the first goal of the game, and Oshie got the secondary helper on the goal. Oshie did not get a "plus" on the play; he was sitting on the bench by the time the red light went on.
Most importantly, Oshie scored a 6-on-5 goal with 1.8 seconds remaining, the goal that enabled the Caps to scrape a point out of Wednesday's game. From the high slot, Oshie cranked a one-timer that eluded Mikko Koskinen's outstretched glove hand, tying the game at 3-3 and forcing overtime.
Oshie's second goal of the game was the second-latest game-tying goal (59:58) scored in the NHL this season. Only San Jose's Alexander Barabanov (59:59) scored a later one; Barabanov scored his on Feb. 17 against Vancouver.
Oshie's late goal on Wednesday in Edmonton is the fourth the Caps have scored this season with their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker.
Redemption Song - On Feb. 2 in Washington, Ilya Samsonov started in net for the Caps against the Oilers in the previous meeting between the two teams this season. Samsonov lasted only 5:07 into the first period, getting pulled after being dented for three goals on just four shots.
Although he suffered the overtime loss on Wednesday in Edmonton, Samsonov acquitted himself well in his second chance against the Oilers. He stopped 36 of the 40 shots he faced on the night, including all 20 shots he saw in the first period, the most the Capitals have allowed in an opening period in 59 games this season. Seven of Edmonton's 20 shots in the first came while the Oilers were on the power play.
"I think he played great," says Backstrom of Samsonov. "The first period there, they had two power plays and they were all over the place. He saved us there in the first period there, that's for sure. He looked very calm and focused out there."
Samsonov's 20 saves in the first are the most by a Washington goaltender since Michal Neuvirth made 22 stops in the first frame of a Jan. 31, 2014 game against the Red Wings in Detroit, a 4-3 shootout loss for the Caps.
Been A While -Edmonton center Brad Malone assisted on Cody Ceci's go-ahead goal with less than two minutes remaining in the second period. For Malone, that point was his first in the NHL in more than six years, since Feb. 28, 2016 when he was with Carolina.
In the third period, Malone went one better. With the game even at 2-2 after Oshie's power-play goal, Malone scored to put Edmonton back on top with 9:29 remaining. The goal was his first in the NHL since Dec. 3, 2015.
Since leaving the Hurricanes' organization, Malone had been without a point in 26 games played with Edmonton, scattered over parts of three seasons including the current one. The 32-year-old New Brunswick native has spent most of the last several seasons skating in the AHL.
"I don't think it's really sunk in yet, to be honest," says Malone. "It feels pretty awesome, to be honest. I was just really happy that at the end of the game we got the two points. It's tough to have an individual game like that and feel good about yourself when you don't get the two points."
By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Caps with 25:50 in ice time … Trevor van Riemsdyk led Washington with 3:59 worth of shorthanded ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with eight shots on net and nine shot attempts … Nick Jensen led the Caps with four hits … Connor McMichael led Washington with three blocked shots … Lars Eller won 10 of 11 draws (91 percent).