Typically, when the team you play next is on a back-to-back, you want to see them win the first game before they face you. The adage being they’re more likely to come out flat, perhaps too satisfied, with the first victory and don’t have the same juice against you.

The Edmonton Oilers have been busting that cliché this week. As they host the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, it’s their third straight opponent who beat the Calgary Flames the night before.

On Tuesday, the Devils limped into Edmonton to take two points, who were even more flaccid through two periods. On Thursday, the Penguins worked the Oilers and punished awful puck play. On Saturday, the Oilers hope to flip the script.

For all the talk about not winning three straight games, the Oilers have lost three straight…three times. However, they’ve refused to lose three in a row in regulation. So, take that!

As the Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks all earned wins on Friday, the Oilers hope to get this homestand back on the rails.

‘Have to dig in’

The Capitals were reeling, headed into Cowtown on a four-game losing streak.

Any time you read a boxscore these days and see a loss to the Vancouver Canucks, you wince. Washington blew an early two-goal lead to give Vancouver their first win in 11 games – a franchise record losing skid by the way.

Fast forward to Friday, despite the Flames scoring first, the Caps clawed back to win 3-1, including dominating the second period 17-4 in shots.

Hendrix Lapierre, Aliaksei Protas, and Alex Ovechkin scored, while Logan Thompson made 25 saves. Unless coach Spencer Carbery is going to run Thompson back-to-back, the Caps will turn to Charlie Lindgren against Edmonton.

Inconsistency has threatened to undercut their season, out of a playoff spot, and needing to ramp up their urgency, according to Carbery.

“Our season is hanging in the balance here. We’re going to have to dig in and give everything we possibly have and play like we’re in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” said Carbery on Wednesday.

“I hate using that in the regular season, and you never want to drum that up in January and say it’s like a playoff game, but we are getting very, very close to teetering on if we don’t get results soon, we’re going to be in a huge, huge hole.”

Does that same urgency carry over 24 hours? Do the Oilers come out with urgency of their own?

Huh?

I’m not sure anyone expected a repeat of last year’s unexpected first-place finish in the Eastern Conference, but to regress out of the playoffs would be a real blow to the franchise.

From an outsider’s point of view, they’re hard to figure out.

Popular hockey analytics and online personality JFresh shared some of his fancy stats that are pretty baffling.

3rd in 5-on-5 goal share (great)
12th in 5-on-5 expected goal share (good)
2nd in team goaltending (excellent)
4th in PDO (great)
31st in special teams (woof)
22nd in points percentage (huh?)

What a mind-boggling hockey team. To have such a good goal differential, great goaltending, yet be undone by special teams? Untimeliness?

Who knows.

Their powerplay is toiling below 17 per cent, despite having the league’s greatest powerplay weapon of all-time in Ovechkin and it speaks to their struggles. Only three of Alex Ovechkin’s 21 goals have been on the man-advantage. Tom Wilson, Jacob Chychrun, and Dylan Strome have all had more.

The penalty kill is below 78 per cent, after killing just one of two penalties on Friday night. The Oilers powerplay – which has “only” scored twice in the last five games – can get back on track.

Wilson is back

The chippiness level was high against the Flames. Could be because perpetrator Tom Wilson is back, and he goaded Adam Klapka into a 10-minute misconduct in the third period with his usual agitation.

“I guess it’s the game within the game. You know, guys chirping each other and having some fun with it, and a competitive nature and emotion. That’s why hockey is the best sport in the world,” Wilson told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis on Friday.

He missed eight games and was the team’s leading scorer when he went down. Now, Wilson has assists in back-to-back games upon his return and is tied with Alex Ovechkin with 44 points on the season.

He later got a misconduct with his own after chirping Mackenzie Weegar. Team Canada nods with approval, as he left his imprint on the game.

“He drags our group into the fight, and it gets everybody’s attention, and everybody stands up,” said Carbury post-game.

While Wilson is in the peak of his career, Washington’s pro scouts should be lauded for their moves for getting players to be at their best: Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jacob Chychrun, and Logan Thompson have been fantastic since being acquired. But there are under-the-radar moves that aren’t household names, too.

Justin Sourdif is an example. He’d played just four NHL games as a Florida Panther before Washington dealt a second and sixth-round pick in the summer to bring in the 23-year-old.

He’s grown into a nice, useful player, scoring 10 goals and 22 points in his rookie season, largely playing above his skis while other injuries have lingered in the Caps lineup.

With three points in his last two games, Sourdif celebrated a career night on January 5 against Anaheim. Scoring a hat-trick and five points, he achieved a rookie feat that has only been done by ten players since 2010.

Notes:

Reading Caps fanboards has been funny from an Oilers perspective. Carbery appears to have gone to the same school of line combinations as Kris Knoblauch, as fans are dying for Carbery to set the lines. He’s not afraid to switch things up on the fly, game to game, or period to period. A total of 83 different line combos have been used by Carbery, according to Natural Stat Trick.
John Carlson was hurt that his name seemed miles away from being in the mix for Team USA at the Olympics. It’s remarkable how consistent he’s been throughout his career, and at age 36, has nine goals and 41 points in 48 games this season. If he continues at this pace, he’ll register his fifth season totalling over 60 points. What a career.
On Wednesday, Carlson became just the 11th defenseman in NHL history to record 600 assists with one team. He has 766 points in 1136 regular season games, nevermind his 78 points in 137 playoff games. He’s due for a new contract. What’s his number?
Ovechkin, now at 1,666 career points, is within three of Wayne Gretzky for the fifth-most by a player with a single franchise.
Ovi’s career goal total now sits at 918.
Former 8th overall pick in 2023, Ryan Leonard is enjoying success in his first full season in the league. Ten goals and 29 points ain’t too shabby, plus he scored twice last time he played the Oilers. In Friday’s win, he had 18:12 in time on ice.
Pierre-Luc Dubois hasn’t played since Halloween with an abdominal injury, but has begun skating again.
Yesterday’s goal from Lapierre was his first goal since March 18, 2024, a 91-game drought.
This is game four of five on a western roadtrip. They’ll catch their breath before playing Seattle on Tuesday.
Edmonton has lost three straight to Washington by a combined score of 17-6.

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