PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Capitals

The Edmonton Oilers continue their eight-game homestand at Rogers Place against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Capitals

EDMONTON, AB – Time to raise the tempo.

The Edmonton Oilers will look to work with more urgency on Saturday night when they continue their eight-game homestand at Rogers Place against Alex Ovechkin & the Washington Capitals, fresh off an underwhelming performance in a 6-2 defeat to Sidney Crosby & the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

The Oilers were hit with three goals in 37 seconds in the opening three minutes of regulation, showing their lack of readiness in front of netminder Tristan Jarry as they fell behind 3-0 early against a Penguins side playing the second of a back-to-back after beating the Calgary Flames 4-1 the night before.

"Obviously, not a great start," Connor McDavid said. "Playing catch-up is tough in this league, and you look pretty bad when you're doing it, so that wasn't our best right from the start."

"I think everyone looks at our team as some high-offensive team because we have some good players. But the recipe for our group has been a sound defence. That's the way we've had success, and obviously, we got away from that tonight."

Jake Walman scored shorthanded 5:14 into the second period to give the Oilers something to build on down 3-1, marking his second SHG of the season and stretching his point streak to four games (1G, 3A), though it was similar to the first period after Rickard Rakell and Evgeni Malkin responded 1:58 apart.

Forward Matt Savoie has goals in back-to-back games after scoring his ninth of the season in the third period.

"The first shift we had in the offensive zone, we had a couple of shot attempts and then made some mistakes," Knoblauch said. "We lost coverage on the first one. They were set up behind the net and their guy beat ours up the ice to create an odd-man rush. I remember the third goal. Just a high tip, not having coverage there. But obviously, giving up three goals in the first five minutes is not good. We weren't ready."

Leon Draisaitl was a surprise addition to the lineup before puck drop after missing the last three games, but the German wasn't able to be much of a factor in a performance where the Oilers collectively gave up too many scoring chances.

"It kind of reminded me of the way we were playing at the beginning of the year. We would outshoot teams, we'd spend more time in the offensive zone, but the chances we were giving up were pretty inexcusable. I think our team is very confident we'll be able to rebound after poor games, and the other night we played 40 terrible minutes and still put in a strong third period. But it wasn't enough to come from behind."

The Oilers and Capitals will meet for the second and final time this season on Saturday, following Washington's 7-4 win in their last meeting on Nov. 19 in D.C. Darnell Nurse notched a pair of goals that night, while Leon Draisaitl (1G, 1A) and Connor McDavid (2A) also had multiple points in the losing effort.

It will be the third game in a row where the Oilers are playing an opponent on the second of a back-to-back while playing three games in four nights, so there's urgency for them to start taking advantage of these games on home ice up until the Olympic break.

"There are 30 games left," McDavid said. "We're coming down the home stretch here. There are no February games this year, so it's like we're at the end of February. The sense of urgency's got to go up, and our group's playoff race is real tight, and we gotta find a way to get points here, especially at home."

Evan Bouchard will play in his 400th career game.