Devante Smith-Pelly finished with one goal and one assist, and Alex Ovechkin added a goal as the Washington Capitals defeated the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-2 Monday night.
Washington, which still is looking for consecutive victories this season, snapped a two-game losing streak.
Goalie Pheonix Copley earned his second win of the season and the second of his NHL career. Copley now is serving as the backup to Braden Holtby, and the Capitals are trying to get him more playing time as the season goes along. The rookie made his third start and appeared in his fourth game.
Copley finished with 31 saves, including 11 as he blanked Edmonton in the third period. He improved to 2-1-0 on the season.
Washington's Travis Boyd, playing in his first game this season after injury issues sidelined him, finished with two assists. John Carlson also had two assists.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl collected goals for the Oilers, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was credited with two assists.
Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot made 19 saves overall but allowed two first-period goals, and the Oilers could not recover from that. This loss ended the Oilers' two-game winning streak.
Washington jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead when Jakub Vrana and Smith-Pelly scored three minutes apart early in the first period.
Vrana tallied first, taking a quick pass from Smith-Pelly and beating Talbot from the edge of the left circle at 2:44. Smith-Pelly stretched it to 2-0 exactly three minutes later by scoring on a shot from between the circles.
McDavid's power-play goal made it 2-1 at 10:24 of the first period. T.J. Oshie stretched the lead to 3-1 with his goal 8:11 into the second period.
The Oilers answered quickly when Draisaitl scored three seconds after a Smith-Pelly penalty ended. Adam Larsson fired a shot that appeared to hit his teammate's skate and deflect past Copley at 10:41 of the middle period.
Washington came back again when Ovechkin scored a power-play goal with 6:51 left in the second, extending the lead to 4-2. Ovechkin fired home the rebound of a Carlson shot that came back to him in the left circle, and the Capitals held on from there.
--Field Level Media
Edmonton | Washington | |
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2 | Points | Devante Smith-Pelly 2 |
Leon Draisaitl 1 | Goals | Devante Smith-Pelly 1 |
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2 | Assists | Travis Boyd 2 |
Connor McDavid 1 | Power Play Goals | Alex Ovechkin 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cam Talbot .826 | Save Percentage | Pheonix Copley .939 |
Cam Talbot 19 | Saves | Pheonix Copley 31 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Edmonton | 33 | 2 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 4 | 36 |
Washington | 23 | 4 | 1-2 | 3-4 | 8 | 26 |