Facing the best team in the NHL without the best player in the NHL was a tough task for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
Kris Knoblauch’s men did well by dominating their opponents 32-14 in terms of shots, in the absence of Connor McDavid but they still suffered a 3-2 loss.
McDavid served the first of three games suspension.
Edmonton won nothing from this game… except perhaps some nachos thrown on the ice in the third period, a few moments before a goal by Corey Perry. The latter was more hungry for a goal than for nachos and he reduced the gap to 3-2, in vain.
This is probably the most memorable moment of the Oilers game.
Pierre-Luc Dubois shined in the winning side with a goal and an assist to bring his total to 38 points in 47 games this season. He has 22 points in 23 games since the start of December.
Tom Wilson and Matt Roy scored the other Capitals goals, while Oilers star Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist.
In addition to collecting an assist on Dubois’ goal, Capitals goalie Logan Thompson stopped 30 pucks.
This is a fifth straight win for Washington.
-In the absence of his faithful companion, Draisaitl made sure to make it clear to the Capirals that he intended to work harder. Just 3:02 into the first period, Draisaitl opened the scoring with a perfect backhand shot from the slot.
The response, however, came from Wilson’s stick a few minutes later, in the middle of the engagement. Wilson reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his career when a superb lift pass from Aliaksei Protas during an overtime allowed him to tie the game 1-1.
Dubois then got a game-opening point midway through the second period to put the Capitals in the driver’s seat for the first time in the game. The Quebecer put the puck back at the blue line for Roy, who scored with a slap shot that apparently missed.
After showing generosity, Dubois then took advantage of the excellent work of one of his teammates in the third period. Lars Eller skillfully recovered the puck between his legs, before sliding it between Stuart Skinner’s pads, but the puck hit the post. Dubois, however, attacked the net and pushed the puck into the back of the net to double the Capitals’ lead with his ninth goal of the season.
Perry then found himself in the middle of an unusual situation when he cut the lead in half and clearly nothing could stop him from scoring. Not even nachos.
The Oilers attacked in Capitals territory and Perry appeared to pass over an object on the ice. He then took a good one-timer off a pass from Draisaitl to make it 3-2.
However, the cameras filmed closer after his goal and it appeared that a fan had thrown his nachos onto the ice.
The Capitals resisted numerous attacks from the Oilers late in the game to triumph.
