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Capitals @ Oilers Recap: Oilers Crush Caps in 7-2 Win

Zach Hyman scores a natty hatty in Edmonton’s routing of the Capitals, who are now 0-2 to start a vital road trip.

Mar 13, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman (18) deflects a shot wide of Washington Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper (35) during the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Plus: The kids keep scoring! Ivan Miroshnichenko and Connor McMichael both found the back of the net in the first period tonight, and both tallies were pretty stellar. Miroshnichenko looked particularly good tonight—the physicality in his game was evident whenever he was on the ice.

Minus: Is “everything else” an acceptable answer here? This author says yes.

Caps Player of the Game: Darcy Kuemper’s stat line tonight was not pretty, but we’ll give him the nod simply because the rest of the team left him out to dry. This is somewhat of a pattern for him this season—no offensive support, and no defense to make up for it.

Three Takeaways:

  • After McMichael’s first period power play goal, the Capitals now have power play tallies in 10 of their last 12 games. The team struggled mightily on the power play at the beginning of the season, so seeing them get into this kind of rhythm is very encouraging.
  • For a team on a road trip that can make or break the rest of their season, the Capitals did not have much urgency on offense. They only had 25 shots on goal, and Alex Ovechkin had seven of them. That effort, or lack thereof, is simply not going to cut it.
  • This Ivan Miroshnichenko goal was insane.

Up next for the Capitals: a trip to Seattle to face the Kraken tomorrow night at 10pm ET for the third game of this roadtrip.

Talking Points