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EDMONTON, AB – Let's call it a wash.

Despite more than doubling the Washington Capitals 32-14 in shots, goaltender Logan Thompson was solid for the NHL leaders, making 30 saves to hand the Edmonton Oilers their second straight loss in a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

Forward Leon Draisaitl scored his League-best 34th goal during the first period and added an assist on veteran Corey Perry's eighth goal of the campaign that made it 3-2 early in the final frame, but the Capitals were clinical on their opportunities, striking once in each period with goals from centre Tom Wilson, defenceman Matt Roy and centre Pierre-Luc Dubois to push the visitors' point streak to 11 games (8-0-3).

"I thought we played pretty solid defensively, maybe a couple of line rushes against that we could've shored up," Perry said. "But for the most part, you keep them to under 15 shots – they're a top team in the league. When you do that, you normally come away with two points. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one at the end and we'll move on to the next one."

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 11 saves on 14 shots for the Oilers, while winger Vasily Podkolzin and defenceman Darnell Nurse recorded assists.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid missed the first game of his three-game suspension for cross-checking Canucks forward Conor Garland on Saturday in a 4-3 defeat to Vancouver.

"We're a pretty good team in here, and we've got a lot of good players," Perry said. "He'd been out earlier in the year and we took care of business, and you can't fill his spot, but you can adapt. I think guys adapted."

Edmonton now looks ahead to rematching the Canucks on Thursday night at Rogers Place.

The Oilers fall 3-2 to the Capitals on Tuesday night at Rogers Place

FIRST PERIOD

After all the talk about Ovi and the first-place Capitals coming to Oil Country, everyone forgot about Drai – the League's leading goalscorer.

Without McDavid in the lineup serving the first of his three-game suspension, the Oilers got the start they wanted just over three minutes into the contest when Leon Draisaitl backhanded home his NHL-best 34th goal of the campaign for the 1-0 lead using the backside of his infamous 'burger flipper.'

Draisaitl won an offensive-zone draw to Vasily Podkolzin along the wall before receiving a pass from Darnell Nurse, placing his effort across his body and inside the left post behind Washington netminder Logan Thompson – who was just named the NHL's First Star of the Week after allowing just one goal in his previous three games.

Draisaitl always seems to elevate his game even higher somehow when McDavid isn't in the lineup, and with his first-period goal, the German hit 70 points on the season in only 47 games – the third time in his career he's reached the mark in 47 games or less (2022-23 - 44GP & 2019-20 - 47GP).

Draisaitl backhands home his NHL-best 34th goal of the season

The Capitals have scored plenty of their goals off the rush this season to assemble a league-best 31-10-5 record coming into Tuesday, and the visitors capitalized on a mistake from the Oilers to tie the game on an odd-man break six minutes after they fell behind.

Viktor Arvidsson's drop pass meant for Draisaitl turned the Capitals up the ice on a two-on-one, where Evan Bouchard slid to try and take away Aliaksei Protas' saucer pass to Tom Wilson before the marauding forward one-timed it over the left pad of Stuart Skinner to make it 1-1 with nine minutes gone in the opening frame.

"Obviously, it doesn't always go your way," Zach Hyman said. "If you have more chances, sometimes the other team gets the better of you. That's why in the playoffs, you play seven games, right? So they're a really good team. They're dangerous off the rush. They had a couple of rush goals and they were able to capitalize. Obviously, we fell short."

The Oilers had two good chances to re-take the lead in a period where they outshot the Capitals by a 10-3 margin, starting with Zach Hyman having a partial breakaway that was turned aside by the left pad of Thompson. Just under a minute later, Mattias Ekholm had a point shot drop perilously to the left of Thompson that Draisaitl couldn't get to in time before Bouchard fanned on the follow-up pass from Podkolzin.

"I thought we had plenty of opportunities to score, especially early in the game, and just couldn't buy one," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said.

Ty talks following the Oilers 3-2 defeat to the Capitals

SECOND PERIOD

Despite doubling up the Capitals in shots 23-9 through two periods and getting their fair share of chances in the middle frame, the Oilers found themselves down by a goal after 40 minutes on defenceman Matt Roy's second goal of the season.

With 8:14 gone in the period and traffic parked in front of the Oilers crease, the Washington blueliner let go of a quick clapper that slid along the ice and went five-hole on Stuart Skinner to lift the Capitals into a 2-1 lead on only their second shot of the period, and fifth of the game nearly halfway through the contest.

"Just a couple of puck plays I think. We started out well," defenceman Ty Emberson said. "That was something that we wanted to focus on, but it's two good teams out there. There's a reason they're at the top of the league and it's something that we want to strive for, so I think some nights it just doesn't go your way. But I thought overall, it was a pretty good effort."

Both the Oilers and Capitals weren't able to generate much on their opening power plays, with Alex Ovechkin setting up a few good looks for his side on the man advantage but neglecting to get any real chances to fire away for his 875th career goal – just 21 away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the NHL's all-time goals record at 894.

Corey speaks after the Oilers fell 3-2 to Washington on Tuesday

"Obviously, we were missing the best player in the world. It's a little bit of a different look," Zach Hyman said of the power play. "I thought we had some looks, and we'll have two more games without him here, so a little bit more practice on it and it should be good."

The Oilers looked more dangerous at five-on-five, with winger Connor Brown getting his team's best chance trying to bang in a turned-over puck behind the Capitals' net at the left post, but Thompson held strong to keep it out. The netminder stood his ground again later in the period on a goal-mouth scramble that saw Edmonton's third line of Jeff Skinner, Henrique and Brown dig away at a loose puck in the crease before play was whistled down.

The Oilers carried 1:31 of power-play time into the third period after Dubois held Corey Perry between the hashmarks to prevent the veteran forward from having a clean look on goal, preserving Washington's slim advantage at 2-1 heading into the third period.

Zach speaks following the Oilers 3-2 defeat to the Capitals

THIRD PERIOD

Journeyman centre Lars Eller made a great pick-up on a pass from Dubois behind the Edmonton defence before sliding the 3-1 goal through the legs of Skinner and hitting the far post, but Dubois was there to clean up the rebound 3:49 into the final frame.

You're 'nacho' gonna believe it, but there was plenty of time on the clock for the Oilers to make their way back.

Just over a minute later, Corey Perry managed to get it right back for the Oilers, avoiding a full box of nachos on the ice at Rogers Place before going top-cheese with a one-timer to leave the Oilers down 3-2 with over 15 minutes remaining in the third period.

"I didn't even see them, honestly," Perry said. "I don't know if they were there before or whatever, I was focused on the play. Leo made a great play."

Perry goes top cheese to make it 3-2 in the third period

A tripping penalty on Jeff Skinner committed by John Carlson with 2:01 remaining in regulation set up a chance for the Oilers to tie the game at six-on-four in the final moments, and the Oilers were hoping for a bounce to reward them for putting 32 shots on goal over the full 60 minutes against a resilient Thompson in goal for the Capitals.

Draisaitl teed up a one-timer from his regular spot in the right circle that he missed high and wide before a back-door opportunity for the German arrived too late, as time expired on a 3-2 defeat for the Oilers for their second straight defeat.

"I think that's one of our better games that we played defensively. I don't think we gave up very much," Knoblauch said. "A couple off the rush, yes, but we're never going to play a perfect game. The other team is going to get scoring chances, but I don't think there were very many tonight."

Logan Thompson was the factor for the Capitals on Tuesday night, finishing with 30 saves as the night's first star.

"That's the game of hockey – capitalizing on opportunities," Emberson said. "A team like that won't make many mistakes, so I think next time, we'll just have to capitalize on a couple of them. We didn't make many mistakes ourselves and they capitalized on them, and that's why it's a tough game."

Edmonton defeated Washington in both meetings last season but took the opening defeat in the season series this campaign, with their next meeting slated for next month at Capital One Arena on Feb. 23.

Kris speaks post-game as the Oilers lost 3-2 to Washington