That was the most fun Edmonton Oilers game of the season, and arguably their best despite the loss.

On Wednesday evening, the Oilers played their fifth of seven consecutive games on the road, falling 7-4 to the Washington Capitals to bring their season record to 9-9-4. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.

Just over two minutes into the game, the Capitals took the lead as Skinner saved the initial shot from the point, but gave up a juicy rebound to Aliaksei Protas on the doorstep. The Capitals extended that lead to two just over six minutes into the game, as Alexander Ovechkin deflected a shot from the point into the back of the net.

About a minute later, the Oilers responded as Darnell Nurse had a seeing-eye slapshot from the point that beat Logan Thompson for his fourth of the season. Midway through the first period, the Capitals regained their two-goal lead thanks to a goal from Ryan Leonard.

Once again, the Oilers had an answer thanks to Nurse. This time, it was a wrist shot from the point that was able to find twine to bring the Oilers to within one once again. Midway through the second period, Leonard scored his second of the game on a breakaway, the lone goal in the second period.

While it wasn’t immediate, the Oilers were able to cut the lead to one for the third time. Early in the third period, David Tomášek received a nice pass from Andrew Mangiapane from behind the net, making a strong cut across the net to beat Thompson. You know the drill, the Capitals restored their two-goal lead thanks to a goal from Anthony Beauvillier just over six and a half minutes into the game.

The Oilers had another quick response, this time on the power play. I’ve written about this exact scenario plenty of times, as the Oilers were able to force a cross-ice pass to Leon Draisaitl, who wired it home with a one-timer from his office to make it a one-goal lead. Despite a hard push during the second half of the third period, the Oilers were unable to score the game-tying goal. The Capitals buried two empty netters to seal the game.

When are the Oilers going to do something about their goaltending situation? I’ve defended Stuart Skinner quite a bit in the past, but enough is enough, as he allowed five goals on 19 shots for a .737 save percentage. He’s far from the only problem or even the biggest problem with the 2025-26 Oilers, but the Oilers need a netminder who can make a high-danger save.

It was another rough game for Brett Kulak, finishing with a -3 in this one. The ever-steady left-shot defenceman’s play has fallen off a cliff this season, and it could be time to look to move on from him and his contract.

Darnell Nurse earned a promotion to the top pairing and actually played well, scoring two goals for his second multi-goal game of the season. He was the lone Oilers player to finish with a positive +/-. That’s largely in part due to his defence partner, Evan Bouchard, being on the ice for the empty netters. Bouchard was good in this game as well.

Leon Draisaitl (a goal and an assist) and Connor McDavid (two assists) were the other two players on the Oilers with a multi-point game. Draisaitl finished with a -3, while McDavid finished with a -2. Jack Roslovic and Zach Hyman also finished as a -3, but all four players were on the ice for the empty net goals.

That was a game that the Oilers should’ve won. They had 17 high-danger scoring chances and 32 scoring chances to the Capitals’ 10 high-danger scoring chances and 21 scoring chances. Edmonton needed a save in this game; they didn’t get it.

The good (or bad) news is that the Oilers are back in action on Thursday, as they play the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5:30 PM MT. It’s the sixth stop of the seven-game road trip, and Calvin Pickard is likely to start.