Caps sweep Oilers season series with injury-depleted roster originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Down their starting goalie and a staple blue liner, the Capitals grinded through a full 60-minute battle with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday and emerged victorious with a 3-2 win.
Backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren started in the place of Darcy Kuemper (upper body, day to day) and stopped 28 of 30 shots for his second win against the Oilers this season. Despite placing defenseman Martin Fehervary on Injured Reserve earlier in the day, the Capitals rallied to pick up a point for the fifth time in their last seven games.
Aliaksei Protas hooked up with Nic Dowd on a breakaway midway through the third period for game-winner before Washington held off the Oilers from pushing one through with goaltender Stuart Skinner pulled.
The Capitals finished the game with 50 shots on goal including 22 in the first period, which tied their season high for a single frame.
Despite all those first-period shots, the game was scoreless going into the first intermission. Edmonton defenseman Brett Kulak put the home team up 1-0 early in the second period, but Lars Eller responded with his third point in four games to tie it right back up.
The veteran center received a pass from Sonny Milano with lots of real estate and no Oilers between him and Skinner. Using some impressive stickhandling, Eller got the netminder out of position and scored on the forehand.
An eventful Capitals power play saw the two teams trade goals later in the frame. Center Connor McDavid intercepted a pass by John Carlson at the point and got a clean breakaway, beating Lindgren through the five-hole for a shorthanded goal.
Ninety seconds later, the Capitals erased the McDavid goal by converting the power play chance. Evgeny Kuznetsov danced around the right circle with the puck before firing a pass to Dylan Strome behind the net. Strome wasted no time finding T.J. Oshie open in the low slot.
That set the stage for a tight third period with Dowd scoring the eventual game-winner. With the win, the Capitals moved to 11-12-4 with 26 points toward the Metropolitan Division standings. They’ll wrap up their season-high, six-game road trip Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
