After a poor start, the Capitals surrendered two hard-working goals in front of the net to Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. In the second period, Evan Bouchard scored once and Leon Draisaitl scored twice on three different Oilers power plays to put the game out of reach.
Connor McDavid snapped a career-high four game pointless streak, registering four assists in the game. The four-point outing was McDavid's 34th career 4+ point outing including the regular season and playoffs. "Yeah, wasn't good at all," a seething Spencer Carbery said after the game. "Wasn't good at all. Right from the drop of the puck, not good. "It's difficult to play against a team of that caliber when they have the puck the entire night. And any time we get it, it just doesn't connect and we give it right back. Obviously, if you do the math, you give Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins the puck all night - three of the best players on the planet - it's going to be difficult and that's essentially what [happened]."
Coming into their afternoon tilt against the Oilers, the Capitals were on a five-game winning streak and had won nine of their last 11, losing only once in regulation during that span. The matchup against Edmonton marked the end of a four-game homestand and a stretch where the Caps played nine of their last 11 games in their home barn. Meanwhile, the Oilers were looking for any opening to start a hot stretch of their own. After having the sixth-most standings points in the NHL last season, Edmonton has fallen to the bottom of the standings due to poor goaltending. They had lost the first three games of their four-game road trip, giving up five-or-more-goals every night. "It's really disappointing," Carbery said. "We've done a lot of good things and I'm sure we'll talk about that. It's disappointing - you're going to lose games in this league,
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