Nugent-Hopkins helps Oilers recover to defeat Capitals

WASHINGTON --Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice late in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers recovered after blowing an early three-goal lead to defeat the Washington Capitals 5-3 at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Capitals goalie
Pheonix Copley
made the initial save on Zach Hyman on the rush, but Hyman got the rebound and sent a pass across the crease to Nugent-Hopkins, who scored shorthanded to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead at 15:57.
Nugent-Hopkins scored into an empty net at 18:55 for the 5-3 final.
"Obviously, you defend first (on the penalty kill) and don't give anything up easy, but at the same time, you get a chance to go, and you've got to try to take advantage," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Usually, it's just one guy up top, so you can get some 2-on-1s and at least just control the puck."
Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane each had a goal and an assist, and Cody Ceci and Duncan Keith each had two assists for the Oilers (23-16-3), who are 5-0-1 in their past six. Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves.
"We've got things turned around. We're finding enough goals to win," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "Koskinen has played real solid for us in [his past] five games, and we feel like we're back going in the right direction."

Lars Eller, Conor Sheary and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for the Capitals (25-13-9), who were playing without forward Alex Ovechkin, who entered NHL COVID-19 protocol Wednesday.
Ilya Samsonov, who made 43 saves in relief of Vitek Vanecek in a 4-3 overtime win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, allowed three goals on four shots and was pulled at 5:07 of the first period. Copley made 21 saves in relief in his first NHL game since April 6, 2019.
"It was tough, certainly not the way you want to start the game," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "You look up, and quickly in a game you're down three. It's a real high mountain to get back. I think it just lets the air out too on the bench and in the building. It makes it a little bit difficult."
Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 1:30 of the first period when he worked a give-and-go with Ceci and redirected the return pass by Samsonov for his 32nd goal of the season.
Kane made it 2-0 when he redirected Keith's shot from the point at 3:01.
With the Oilers on a power play, Connor McDavid received a cross-ice pass from Draisaitl and banked the puck in off Samsonov from below the goal line to extend the lead to 3-0 at 5:07.
"I think just as a team we want to shoot more and get more pucks to the net, especially with a guy coming on a back-to-back," Hyman said. "For sure, I think it was important to get pucks on him and luckily a couple went in there."

Copley entered the game and kept Edmonton from adding to the lead while Washington rallied.
"I thought the team played really well in front of me defensively," Copley said. "There were some rebounds I gave up that guys were clearing."
Eller took a pass from Justin Schultz at the point, deked Koskinen and slid a backhand in at 7:36 to pull the Capitals within 3-1.
Sheary made it 3-2 when he scored off a rebound at 9:16 of the second period.
The Capitals tied it 3-3 at 2:48 of the third period when Kuznetsov's shot deflected off Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie.
"Just got a little unlucky at the end and I felt like they felt a little more fresh, and you can feel that," Kuznetsov said. "We had a tough game last night, and that is not an excuse, but at same time I like the way we responded after 3-0."
NOTES:Kane has scored 28 points (21 goals, seven assists) in 35 games against the Capitals. He has scored two goals in three games since signing a one-year contract with the Oilers on Jan. 27. … Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie played 13:52 and took a penalty in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury. … Draisaitl enters the All-Star break one goal behind Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers for the NHL lead. … Capitals forward Tom Wilson will replace Ovechkin on the Metropolitan Division roster and will make his NHL All-Star Game debut. … Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom had an assist and has scored 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 14 games this season. … Nugent-Hopkins is the third Oilers player to score a go-ahead shorthanded goal in the final five minutes of regulation, joining Magnus Paajarvi (16:50, Feb. 10, 2013) and Paul Coffey (16:46, Dec. 26, 1984). … Edmonton scored on its only power play after it was 0-for-10 the past four games. … Copley was reassigned from Hershey of the American Hockey League to the taxi squad on Wednesday.