4 takeaways from the Oilers’ 7-4 loss to the Capitals – The Hockey Writers –
The Edmonton Oilers fell to the host Washington Capitals 7-4 on Wednesday (November 19) at Capital One Arena.
RELATED: Capitals beat Oilers in high score, 7-4
Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse scored two goals, as did Edmonton forwards Leon Draisaitl and David Tomasek. Ryan Leonard and Tom Wilson both scored twice for the Capitals, while Anthony Beauvillier, Alexander Ovechkin and Alyakse Protas also scored for the Capitals.
Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner stopped 14 of 19 shots. Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson made 26 saves in the victory.
With the loss, the Oilers dropped to 9-9-4. Edmonton has 22 points and is fifth in the Pacific Division with 11 points.th in the Western Conference.
The oil workers dug another deep hole
Edmonton found itself trailing 2-0 after the Capitals scored two of their first five shots just six minutes into the game, with Protas scoring at 2:17 and Ovechkin at 6:04.
From that point on, the Oilers were in chase mode and they could never catch up. Edmonton got within one goal four times, but Washington scored each time.
The Oilers’ last chance came when Draisaitl scored at 7:47 of the third quarter to give Washington a 5-4 lead, but Wilson sealed the victory for the Capitals with two empty-net goals at the last moment.
On one hand, the Oilers deserve credit for coming off the canvas time and time again. Edmonton has rallied to win after falling behind by two goals three times this season, including two multi-goal comebacks in the third period for league-leading wins. But the reason the Oilers have been able to pull off so many comeback wins is because they trail so often.
Wednesday marked the ninth time in the past 18 games that the Oilers have fallen 2-0, and Edmonton has now allowed the first goal in 13 of the past 19 games. It’s completely confusing that the Oilers continue to dig themselves into a hole with a slow start, then do the same thing again in the next game.
Oilers score second chance
Second-chance scoring has been an issue for the Oilers so far this season, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday. Nurse and Tomasek have a combined three goals, just one less than Edmonton has totaled through the first 21 games of the 2025-26 season.
Nurse scored at 7:05 and 12:17 of the opening period, becoming the first Oilers defender to score two goals in the first period since Corey Porter on April 26, 2013. Tomasek, who has performed well in six of Edmonton’s past nine games, scored his first goal since Oct. 23 against Thompson at 2:41 of the third period.
Ultimately, the seemingly impossible contributions of Nurse and Tomasek made Edmonton’s loss all the more frustrating. On Wednesday, the Oilers got the depth scoring they’d been looking for but couldn’t capitalize.
Skinner can’t make crucial save
Granted, it doesn’t matter how many support points a team receives. If seven goals were conceded, victory would be impossible.
Five of those seven goals were scored by Skinner, marking the fourth time in his past six starts that the 27-year-old goaltender has scored at least four times.
In some previous games, Skinner has really been impeccable. Edmonton’s defense has been terrible this season as the Oilers’ blueliners have been giving their netminder a hard time.
Edmonton’s defense wasn’t great on Wednesday either, but Skinner took the lion’s share of the blame for all the rubber that ended up in the net. It was arguably Skinner’s worst performance of the 2025-26 season, especially because he couldn’t stop it in time: Skinner allowed Washington’s third goal in just 3:29 after Nurse scored in the first period to make it 2-1, and he gave up the Capitals’ fifth goal in 2:56 after Tomasek made it 4-3.
Hyman has little impact
Wednesday marked Zach Hyman’s third game back with the Oilers since being sidelined with a wrist injury in May, and it was his least impactful game since returning to the field.
The veteran forward took just one shot, knocked down three goals, and finished the game with a plus-minus of minus-3, his lowest all season. He was also deemed pointless for the second time in a row.
Oil Country had high hopes that the return of the former 54-goal scorer would spark a comeback for the middling Oilers, but Hyman has yet to score and has just one assist in three games. While Hyman certainly doesn’t lack for effort, he’s likely still getting up to speed after missing all of training camp and preseason, not to mention Edmonton’s first 19 games of the 2025-26 season.
The Oilers could certainly use Heyman’s signature scoring outburst as they went straight from the frying pan into the fire against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (Nov. 20) at Benchmark International Arena.
