After a tough 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers will begin a much-needed six-game homestand on Tuesday when they host the Washington Capitals, who lead the NHL with a 31-10-5 record.
The Oilers are coming off of a stretch that saw them go 6-2-0 across eight games that were played in eight different cities, so a few nights in Edmonton in late January will be a warm blanket for the jet-lagged team.
1. There are a few of major storylines heading into what could be a Stanley Cup Final preview between Edmonton and Washington.
This should be a Connor McDavid vs Alexander Ovechkin match, but the Oilers’ captain will be serving the first game of a three-game suspension that he was handed for cross-checking Conor Garland in Saturday’s loss to the Canucks.
With McDavid out of the picture for games against the Capitals, Canucks, and Buffalo Sabres this week, Leon Draisaitl will have an opportunity to make a major statement in his bid for the Hart Trophy. The big man leads the league with 33 goals and sits second behind Nathan MacKinnon in the NHL’s scoring race with 69 points.
2. This game also shines the spotlight on Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record. The Great One scored 894 over his 20-season career and The Great Eight is closing in on him with 874 goals.
Though he’s 39 years of age, Ovechkin is having one of the most productive seasons of his career. The nine-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner is tied for 15th in the league in scoring with 21 goals despite having missed 16 games with a broken fibula.
Ovechkin’s 21 goals in 30 games this season is good for 0.7 goals-per-game, which would have him on pace to score 56 goals over 82 games. His highest pace came in 2007-08 when he scored 65 goals in 82 games, good for 0.79 goals-per-game.
The Caps have 36 games left to play, so Ovechkin reaching Gretzky’s record before the end of the 2024-25 season is certainly possible.
3. Washington leads the NHL with a 31-10-5 record. They have 67 points, two up on the second-place Winnipeg Jets with two games in hand. The Oilers are currently fifth in the league with 61 points, six back of the Capitals with the same amount of games played at 46.
The Oilers have Western Conference foes in the Jets and Vegas Golden Knights ahead of them in the standings to worry about, but this game against the Capitals will be one of two opportunities to make up four points in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy. Washington will host Edmonton on February 23 for the second regular season meeting between the two teams.
4. The Capitals have won the Presdients’ Trophy three times in team history: 2009-10, 2015-16, and 2016-17. They were shocked by the eighth-place Montreal Canadiens in the first round in 2009-10 and they lost in the second round in back-to-back years when the Pittsburgh Penguins won two Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Oilers were awarded the first-ever Presidents’ Trophy in 1985-86 and lost that season to the Calgary Flames in the second round of the playoffs. They came back the next season in 1986-87 and won both the Presidents’ Trophy and Stanley Cup.
5. Having Ovechkin back to scoring like he was during his prime has certainly helped, but the Capitals quietly had a very strong off-season that led to their surprising turnaround.
The team went 40-31-11 last year and got swept by the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. The Caps finished 28th in the league with only 216 goals scored in 2023-24 and they were in the middle of the pack with 252 goals against.
So far this season, they’re 31-10-5 and rank second in both goals for and against.
Washington made a couple of risky moves by acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jakob Chychrun, two players who were coming off difficult seasons with the L.A. Kings and Ottawa Senators. Dubois sits third on the team in scoring with 36 points and Chychrun leads defencemen on the team with 31 points.
The best pick-up has been goaltender Logan Thompson, who the Caps acquired from Vegas in exchange for two third-round draft picks. With a dirt-cheap $766,667 salary cap hit, the 27-year-old has a 21-2-3 record and a .925 save percentage. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer and is poised to get a huge raise.
