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The Capitals came into tonight’s game off a pretty solid win in Calgary, and the Oilers were entering tonight’s tilt on a 165-minute scoring drought. John Carlson leads the league in scoring, and Connor McDavid was probably itching to get back to the front of that pack. Whose team would reign supreme? Even though Carlson added another point to total 21 on the season, it was McDavid and the Oilers who grabbed the extra point tonight.
Here’s Thursday night’s Plus/Minus:
Plus: Braden Holtby looked good tonight. Not only was he making point blank saves on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but he looked very confident and was reading almost every play well. His reactions were timed perfectly, which is a good sign for the Holtbeast.
Minus: The game started at 9:07pm, but the Capitals clearly didn’t get that memo. They looked pretty rough through the first 20 minutes, much like the ice at Rogers Place tonight. Maybe they were still on east coast time and thought they should be getting ready for bed? Who is to say.
And now, this…
Ten more notes on the game:
1. With 6:40 left in the first, Darnell Nurse got Edmonton on the board first with a goal that redirected off Dmitry Orlov’s blade. It looked like Nurse was going for a pass through the crease, but caught Orlov’s stick instead and caught Holtby by surprise. 1-0 Oilers.
2. The second period got off to a rough start for Carl Hagelin, who careened into the boards behind Mikko Koskinen. He immediately skated off the ice and went down the tunnel to the locker room, smarting after the collision. However, fret not Caps fans, Hagelin returned with 12 minutes left in the second, so he seems to be okay.
3. Jakub Vrana got the Capitals on the board 5:40 into the second period with a beautiful spin-o-rama goal to surprise Koskinen short-side. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was without a stick on the ice, and the Caps sure took advantage of it.
4. 47 seconds later Alex Ovechkin scored goal number 666 of his career, which probably means there’s some sort of curse in Edmonton now. His eighth goal of the season was a beautiful tip-in of a Jonas Siegenthaler shot. John Carlson had the other assist, which means both Ovi and Carlson have extended their point streaks to nine games.
5. Matt Benning got called for closing his hand on the puck, and the Caps cashed in on the ensuing power play with what else but an Ovi Office goal with 6:20 left on the clock. All four Oilers penalty killers were on the other side of the ice, leaving Ovechkin all alone to score the 250th power play tally of his career. He is only the fourth player in NHL history to reach that milestone, behind Dave Andreychuk, Brett Hull, and Teemu Selanne. Tonight is also now Ovi’s 134th multi-goal game. Ho hum.
6. With 15:35 left in the third, Edmonton got one back with a Connor McDavid-to-Leon Draisaitl goal. The Oilers’ top line set up a beautiful play on the rush to beat Holtby, cutting the Caps’ lead to one.
7. With his wizardry on Draisaitl’s goal, Connor McDavid apparently woke up from his three-game point-less streak and was all of a sudden everywhere on the ice. It truly is a treat to watch him play hockey, and it’s even better when Holtby is making sweet save after sweet save against him.
8. The Oilers pulled Koskinen with just under two minutes to go, and about ten seconds later who else but Connor McDavid tied the game for Edmonton. This one was a little weird, Holtby looked like he thought he had the puck beneath his legs but it dribbled through and across the goal line. Fun fact, this was McDavid’s first career goal against Braden Holtby. 3-3 with 1:37 to go…
9. 60 minutes would not be enough in Edmonton tonight, so it was time for three-on-three overtime. Nothing says #SpookySzn like speed demon Connor McDavid with open ice in OT…
10. It looked like the Caps were about to win it with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on the ice, but they couldn’t cash in. The play moved to Holtby’s end of the ice on a beautiful McDavid-Draisaitl give and go, and Draisaitl found the back of the net for his second goal of the night and the OT game-winner. The Capitals allowed three unanswered goals from Edmonton, which is…Not Great™.
Up next: the Caps take on the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night with Ilya Samsonov in the starter’s net.