GAME RECAP: Capitals 7, Oilers 4

WASHINGTON, DC – Couldn't seize the momentum.

Despite two goals from Darnell Nurse and two points each from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Edmonton Oilers weren't able to make the most of their third-period pressure against the Washington Capitals, dropping to their second straight defeat on Wednesday in a 7-4 loss at Capital One Arena.

"Every time we pushed, they were able to find a way to capitalize on their chances," Nurse said. "It's frustrating, but for our group, we battled back. We haven't been able to battle back many times this year, but we've found some goals and kept ourselves in the game late."

The Capitals held five separate two-goal leads, with their final one arriving when Tom Wilson scored his first of two empty-net goals with 1:01 left in regulation after the Oilers reduced the deficit twice with a spirited fightback in the third period off David Tomasek's second NHL goal and Draisaitl's power-play tally.

Nurse notched both of his goals during the first period, while Draisaitl's marker on the man advantage in the final frame put him into a tie with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon for the League's goalscoring lead with 14, finishing with a multi-point night alongside McDavid, who recorded two assists in the loss.

"It's tough to win games when you're giving up five before the empty netter, so we gotta clean it up defensively and keep the puck out," Nurse said.

The Capitals were paced by Ryan Leonard, who recorded a pair of goals to go with Wilson's empty-net tallies, while both Connor McMichael and John Carlson each put forward three assists.

Jacob Chychrun also had two helpers, and goaltender Logan Thompson made 14 saves for the Capitals in the third period to earn the win with 26 saves on 30 shots, outduelling Stuart Skinner in the opposite crease, who was handed the loss after allowing five goals on 19 shots.

"It's very disappointing, because you dig a hole and you fight to get back out of it, and then you're in that hole again," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "This group is a resilient group. They are frustrated, but they are resilient and don't give up. We've seen that time and time again, so we have to stay with it."

The Oilers will be back in action on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning to conclude a back-to-back set before wrapping up their season-high seven-game road trip on Saturday with a rematch of the 2024 & 2025 Stanley Cup Finals against the defending champion Florida Panthers.

"That's the good thing, I guess, about the league -- you travel a lot, you play a lot, but we have to change some things for sure," Tomasek said. "That's too many goals against, so we gotta find a way to be better, especially on a long road trip like this. Tomorrow's another day and a new chance."

THE DOCTOR DICES UP THE DISTRICT

The contest was only six minutes old at Capital One Arena on Wednesday when the Capitals took a 2-0 lead. But thankfully, the Doctor was on call, dealing with two separate two-goal deficits in the first frame for the Oilers by scoring twice to give his side a much-needed response, trailing 3-2 at the intermission.

"It's nice to contribute," Nurse said. "I think it's been a while since I helped out on that side of the ice, but for us, wins and keeping the puck out of our net is the most important part right now."

Forward Aliaksei Protas had scored only once in his previous 14 games for the Capitals before opening the scoring 2:17 into the opening period by quickly tucking away the rebound from John Carlson's shot along the ice that kicked straight to his stick off the right pad of Stuart Skinner.

One-time Edmonton Oil Kings forward Justin Sourdif, who played 28 games for the WHL franchise in 2022 and recorded 39 points in 28 games, winning an Ed Chynoweth Cup as League champion, collected his first-career NHL assist on the play despite already picking up two goals with the Capitals this year.

"Just the commitment to protecting the dangerous ice," Knoblauch said of Edmonton's shortcomings on the defensive side. "You look at the first goal against, we got a lot of guys out of position and we get beat to the dangerous ice. We don't give Stu much help. You look at these nights where Stu's given up a lot of goals, and you're thinking that it's on goaltending, but we're not making the game easy for him."

Under four minutes later, it was one Russian to another – this time, the NHL's all-time greatest goalscorer – as Alex Ovechkin deflected home career goal No. 904 from the slot while being tied up with defenceman Alec Regula and plenty of traffic surrounding Edmonton's crease to make it difficult for Skinner.

"There's a lot of traffic in front on the first few," Nurse said. "That's the heart in front of our net. We got help with our goalie there, so everyone on the ice throughout our lineup can be better."

The Oilers needed a response quickly to avoid letting the game get out of hand early, already trailing 2-0 before the midway mark of the opening stanza, and it arrived just when they needed it when defenceman Darnell Nurse scored his first of two goals in the period with a seeing-eye effort only 1:01 later.

Draisaitl and McDavid shuffled the puck coming over the Capitals' blueline before the captain dished it in front of him to Nurse, who arrived on scene and let it go quickly before it found its way through a couple of bodies in front and past the stick of Podkolzin to beat netminder Logan Thompson over the left pad.

The Oilers have been trying to sort out their defensive coverage this season, having a tendency to leave too many open gaps with a bit too much of a passive approach with too much puck watching in their own zone, which contributed to the Capitals re-taking their two-goal lead at 9:26 of the frame.

Defenceman Ty Emberson, injected back into the lineup against the Capitals in an 11-and-7 set-up for the Oilers, laid a huge hit on John Carlson as he came over the blueline, but with the puck in his skates and a few of his teammates watching the puck, he inadvertently kicked it into the path of Ryan Leonard.

Leonard showed patience by waiting to take his shot and beating Skinner top shelf to make it 3-1 for the Capitals.

Edmonton was fortunate not to be down 4-1 when Sonny Milano hit the post before Mattias Ekholm helped prevent the follow-up from going through inside the blue paint. But Skinner really started to settle in after that, and the Oilers would pull to within a goal before the break through Nurse's second of the night.

Despite the Oilers losing a faceoff in the Capitals' zone, winger Zach Hyman went into the corner and won the puck before throwing it across the crease diagonally to Nurse, who went to the same side that he beat Thompson earlier in the period to make it 3-2 with over 12 minutes gone in the period.

With two goals in the first period, Nurse recorded his second multi-goal game of the season and the fifth of his career, while also picking up his third multi-point game of the season, marking the 52nd time he's done it over parts of his 12 NHL seasons.

Zach Hyman's assist was his second helper in his third game since making his season debut on Saturday in Carolina.

CAPITALS CAPITALIZE ON CHANCES

There were two breakaways during the second period at Capital One Arena that were split between Edmonton and Washington, but the hosts were the one who made theirs count, taking their third multi-goal lead of the game thanks to Ryan Leonard's second goal that matched Nurse's output on the other side.

Both Skinner and Thompson had to make important saves early in the period after a not-so-great start for the netminders on Wednesday, with both settling in after allowing a combined five goals on 20 shots in an exciting opening 20 minutes.

The Oilers had a great chance through Podkolzin on a two-on-one with Draisaitl soon after, where the Russian couldn't become the third Russian skater to score tonight when he couldn't get a handle on the puck as it bounced off the ice after the German sauced it to him over a Capitals defender's stick.

Later in the frame, Jack Roslovic threaded a perfect pass to Matt Savoie for a one-on-one chance against Thompson, but the young forward might've been crossed up by his unorthodox setup as a right-handed catching goalie, thinking he was going glove side but instead was turned aside by the blocker.

The Capitals wound up capitalizing in their breakaway with 8:11 left in the period, when the Oilers failed to get the puck down low while making a change before it was knocked down inside the blueline and moved ahead to Leonard, who shrugged off Evan Bouchard and made a good move by going backhand-to-forehand for his second goal of the game that made it 4-2.

Sourdif was called for holding Jake Walman two minutes later, resulting in Edmonton's second power-play opportunity against the Capitals' 30th-ranked penalty kill, but neither their man advantage could convert nor Mattias Janmark after he missed just wide on the next shift off the feed from Mangiapane.

COULDN'T COMPLETE THE COMEBACK

Twice the Oilers came to within a goal of the Capitals during a spirited fightback from the Blue & Orange during the final frame, pushing their opponents to the limit, but two empty-net goals from Tom Wilson flattered the final scoreline in favour of Washington to sink Edmonton to their second straight loss.

"For a team that's not happy with the way they're playing and feeling very discouraged, I liked the energy," Knoblauch said. "Obviously, they're disappointed, but they're pushing hard. I don't necessarily like the defensive details of our game, but they're pushing and they have the energy. They feel like any game that they have a chance to win.

"After the start, being down early, we had a lot of pushback throughout the game and right up to the end, where we had some chances to tie it up. But we can't expect to be scored on five or six times and win hockey games."

Forward David Tomasek was back in the Oilers lineup on Wednesday because of injuries to Noah Philp and Curtis Lazar, and the Czech forward was trying to make a case for never leaving it again after he reduced the deficit to 4-3 only 2:41 into the third period with a quick move off the pass from a former Cap.

The Oilers moved the puck up ice in transition on the stick of Tomasek before his rimmed puck rode the full length of the boards inside Washington's zone and came to Mattias Janmark, who tapped it down low for Andrew Mangiane to make a great one-touch pass in front to the 6-foot-2, 210-pound centre.

In one quick sequence, Tomasek pulled it over to his backhand and slid it around Logan Thompson to notch his second-career NHL goal in his first game since the second contest of Edmonton's previous back-to-back last Thursday in Columbus.

"I feel pretty good," Tomasek said. "Obviously, it helps to get a little bit of a rhythm and tempo going. I'm trying to play my game and be strong on the face-offs, and I thought it was getting better as the game went along."

The 29-year-old is hoping tonight's goal will lead to more consistency for him – both on the scoresheet and in the lineup – and he's guaranteed to get a longer run of opportunities after Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said this morning that the Oilers will run with this 11-and-7 set-up for the rest of the road trip.

"You try to do whatever you can to get more time, keep playing and be in the lineup," Tomasek said. "This obviously helps the player and their confidence, because it's all about confidence. But it's too bad. They scored a couple of minutes after that on an odd-man rush."

Coach Knoblauch said it was some much-needed depth scoring for the Oilers – something they've lacked throughout November after it was a bright spot for the club earlier in the season.

"We need to have secondary scoring," he said. "We can't rely on Connor and Leon or whoever's playing with them. We need some bottom-six contributions. Tonight, we got some of that, which is good, and going forward, we've got to continue having some of that. Whether you're first line or fourth line, you need offensive contributions, but you also need to make sure you're playing good, solid defensive hockey."

However, the Capitals re-extended their lead to two goals for the fourth time on Anthony Beauvillier's finish off the rush at 6:37 of the frame, making it 5-3 for the hosts, and that proved to be decisive after the Oilers would later respond on the power play through Draisaitl to once again cut the lead to one.

"The difference was the one goal, obviously," Tomasek said. "I think we just let in too many goals, and we were battling from behind right from the start, so it took a lot of energy. They had more odd-man rushes and more chances at the beginning of the game from the slot, so that stuff needs to be better.

Edmonton stayed resolute, establishing their fightback with a determined response that forced Washington to defend for the remainder of the contest.

Just 16 seconds after the Capitals scored again, Carlson was forced into a professional hooking penalty that prevented McDavid from coming through with speed against Thompson. The Oilers then proceeded to show their best execution on the man advantage in a while, when Draisaitl's 14th goal of the season tied him for the League's goalscoring lead with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon.

McDavid found the seam through the slot to pick out Draisaitl in the right circle, where the German swept another one of his deadly one-timers into the top shelf over Thompson's left shoulder to make it 4-3 with over 12 minutes left, setting up another opportunity for the Oilers in D.C to chase a late equalizer.

It was one-way traffic after that, with Ekholm involved in a pair of great chances for the Oilers in quick succession past the third's midway mark, setting up Podkolzin for a back-door redirection that was scraped wide by the Russian before the Swede's follow-up look was stopped by a flailing Thompson.

Right after the chance cleared, Ekholm was called for slashing against Dylan Strome – much to his argument to the officials – but the Oilers didn't allow a shot on the ensuing penalty kill before ultimately pulling Stuart Skinner in the final few minutes for the extra attacker.

Draisaitl wound up missing high and wide at six-on-five on a great look from his favourite spot in the right circle, and that proved to be a decisive moment, as Tom Wilson was able to score the first of two empty-net goals with 1:01 left in regulation before potting his last one 28 seconds later to seal the deal.

"When you lose, it's tough to find positives in the game," Nurse said. "But I thought our group continued to battle through that full 60."