The Edmonton Oilers were able to find positives Wednesday night despite a 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals, their third defeat in four games.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch pointed to contributions from the team’s depth and an effort to stay in the game while trailing as reasons for optimism.
“We need to have secondary scoring,” Knoblauch said. “We can’t rely on Connor [McDavid] and Leon [Draisaitl] or whoever’s playing with them. We need some bottom-six contributions. Tonight we got some of that, which is good.”
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse scored twice in the first period, cutting the Capitals lead to 2-1 and then 3-2. After Ryan Leonard scored his second goal of the game for the Capitals in the second period, David Tomasek opened the third-period scoring to bring the Oilers back within one again, 4-3. Draisaitl quickly answered an Anthony Beauvillier marker midway through the third period to make it 5-4, but two empty-net goals sealed Edmonton’s loss.
“After the start, being down early, we had a lot of pushback throughout the game,” Knoblauch said, “and right up till the end where we had some chances to tie it up.”
The Oilers (9-9-4) were blown out 5-1 by the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night in their fourth game of an ongoing seven-game road trip.
“Every time we pushed, they were able to find a way to capitalize on a chance,” Nurse said of Wednesday’s loss. “It’s frustrating for our group. We battled back. We haven’t been able to battle back many times this season. We were able to find some goals and keep ourselves in the game late.”
After reaching back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers currently sit outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference. Edmonton is five points back of the Anaheim Ducks for first in the Pacific Division with two more games played.
The Oilers will visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, while their road trip finally comes to an end on Saturday with a Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Florida Panthers.