If you were jonesing for the Edmonton Oilers during the 4 Nations Face-Off, you must have been thrilled to learn that the boys would be taking on the Washington Capitals only 24 hours after facing off against the Flyers in a disappointing 6-3 loss yesterday in Philly. Back-to-back matinees? Let’s do it.

I have no idea what was going on with the NHL schedule makers this season, but it seems to me that the Oilers play in the daylight hours almost as often as they don’t. I can’t remember any other season where our boys have had this many matinees on the schedule, but I also can’t be sure if I’m just blocking those years from my memory after years of dreadful daytime results. Either way, if back-to-back 11 AM starts are messing with our internal hockey clocks, you’d have to wonder if the players are in the same boat.

On deck for this morning is a Washington Capitals team that is playing out of their minds this season. Despite many fans and pundits not expecting much from the Capitals in 2024-25, they’ve raced out to one of their best starts in recent memory and entered the 4 Nations break in second place in the league standings. Not bad for a club that was written off as only caring about Alex Ovechkin’s goal chase, right? It’s like every time we expect them to slow down, the Caps just keep finding ways to win.

Yet, with both teams coming into this morning’s contest on the second half of a back-to-back set, it’s also hard to know what to expect. As much as I want to say that both teams should have plenty of energy to get through two games in 24 hours, I think it’s fair to wonder how on point everyone will be as they work to get their timing back. If you’re getting after it as hard as I assume a lot of the younger players did with their time off, it can take more than a game or two to shake off the cobwebs.

Regardless of what happened in Cabo or wherever our boys ended up, we need everyone in a white sweater to bring their A-game today. The Capitals beat the Oilers 3-2 in their last meeting on January 21st, and our boys will need a better effort from the crease outward if they’re going to avenge that loss. If you remember, our boys didn’t play poorly in that game — they just couldn’t score — and I’m hopeful they’ll be in for some better luck this morning.

Then again, we also saw the Oilers look as sloppy and disorganized as ever in yesterday’s 6-3 loss to the Flyers. That game looked more like a pre-season outing than something we’d expect in late February, and needless to say, everyone in an Oilers uniform will need to be a whole lot better if they’re going to avoid a third straight loss. One on hand, I don’t see any way Edmonton can be as bad as they were 24 hours ago, but at the same time, I’d really appreciate not finding out if they can get any worse.

Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)

• The Oilers and Capitals are meeting for the second and final time this season on Sunday in D.C. The Oilers got a goal and an assist from Leon Draisaitl back on January 21 at Rogers Place against the Capitals in a 3-2 losing effort. The Oilers outshot the Caps 32-14 that night but were unable solve Logan Thompson for third time to level the game. The Oilers have won two of their last three visits to the Capital One Arena including a 5-0 win last season on November 24, 2023.
• Jeff Skinner leads all active Oilers in career games (60) and career points (32) versus the Washington Capitals.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Oilers

Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Perry – Draisaitl – Savoie
Arvidsson – Henrique – Brown
Skinner – Kapanen – Podkolzin

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Kulak
Klingberg – Emberson

Pickard

With the Oilers playing (kinda) in Philly yesterday, I wasn’t able to find much in the way of line combos outside of Tony Brar reporting that Kasperi Kapanen would replace Mattias Janmark and Calvin Pickard will be starting in net. What you’ll see above is just a reflection of those minor tweaks laid overtop of yesterday’s line combos. Once we get some news about who is playing where, I’ll jump in to make the adjustments.

Capitals

Ovechkin – Strome – Protas
McMichael – Dubois – Wilson
Mangiapane – Eller – Frank
Duhame – Dowd – Raddysh

Sandin – Carlson
Fehervary – Roy
Chychrun – Van Riemsdyk

Lindgren

The Capitals returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off break by securing a decisive 8-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Led by a three-assist outing by Pierre-Luc Dubois, it was the second time this season that the Capitals scored eight goals.

TONIGHT…