Edmonton Oilers Pull Up Just Short In 1-0 Loss To Caps

It is a real shame that the Edmonton Oilers could not rescue a point or better, out of Washington on Monday night. After all, the Oilers out-played the Capitals for the balance of the game. But credit to Braden Holtby, who stole this one in net for the Caps.

9 Things:

9. Any time you keep Alex Ovechkin off the score sheet, you are doing all right. The Russian superstar WAS very good…with 5 shots and 7 hits, but he was for the most part contained by a very young Edmonton Oilers defence, made up of 20-something kids like Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse and Brandon Davidson. Encouraging.

8. The tying goal was on Taylor Hall‘s stick in the dying seconds, after Nail Yakupov made a terrific play high, on the wall, to feed Hall deep in the slot. But Hall was in so tight, he never did get in a good position to aim and shoot. For Yakupov, that was his best game in a while. Too bad he was not ultimately rewarded for his efforts.

7. That was as good of a game as the Edmonton Oilers defence has, as a unit, played all season. The crispness of the zone exits, the close gaps, the hard work along the boards…you begin to see what this collection of players is capable of. Very encouraging, indeed. For once, it was the offence firing blanks, versus the D breaking down, that cost them points.

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6. The Edmonton Oilers penalty kill was terrific on Monday evening. Two minor penalties by Eric Gryba, in particular, tested the Oilers PK against the high-octane Caps power play. And while they bent from time to time, they did not break, and did a great job of clearing. Mark Letestu had 3:14 SH TOI, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2:13, Matt Hendricks 2:01.

5. To win, in today’s NHL, you cannot waste the few clear-cut chances that the opposition hands you. But that is exactly what the Edmonton Oilers did tonight. On that 2-on-0 break, the puck ended up rolling on Hall and Yakupov, and they failed to get even a shot on goal. You win more often when your goal scorers score goals. Simple as that.

4. Good, veteran teams know how to manage situations. The Edmonton Oilers should have had 3 solid minutes to try and get the equalizer. But the Capitals played a very strong final stretch, with a suffocating shift that saw the puck stay deep in the Edmonton zone. Credit to them. That’s how it’s done. I hope the Oilers were taking notes.

3. Anders Nilsson gave the Edmonton Oilers a whale of a start, stopping 29 of 30. Those saves included a brilliant point-blank stop at the 14:00 mark of the 3rd period, on a Capitals power play. And when most NHL players get the puck where Dmitry Orlov did, the puck will either hit the goaltender…or go in. Nilsson was out at the top of his crease. It simply caught the top corner. Good goal.

2. Having said all of that, the Orlov goal came after an extended fire drill in the Edmonton Oilers zone, with Mark Letestu, Lauri Korpikoski and Iiro Pakarinen caught out there. It was really only the 2nd time all game that the Capitals had sustained pressure. In fact, it was a better shift than most of their power play time was. It was one of those situations that you feared may end badly…and it did.

1. The Play of the Game: With the game still knotted at zero, the Edmonton Oilers broke 2-on-1 into the Capitals zone. Taylor Hall drew his man over, and then deftly slipped a sick saucer pass over the stick of the Washington defender, and right onto the tape of Eric Gryba. Gryba perhaps hesitated for a split second, but got away a terrific shot that Braden Holtby picked out of the air like a boss. No fault to Gryba, full credit to Holtby. But if you are the Oilers, don’t you want Jordan Eberle or any number of other shooters alone in front…as opposed to your 6-7D? Yeah. Yeeah. Life’s like that sometimes.

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When I looked ahead to this 5-game road trip, I felt that this was going to be the toughest game the Oilers would face. And not only did the Edmonton Oilers bounce back beautifully from that pounding they took earlier in the year…they damn near walked out of D.C. with a point. Or two. They HAVE improved.

So credit for the effort. But Carolina is up next, on Wednesday. And that is a game the Oilers HAVE to win, to stay in the playoff race.