EDMONTON — Evan Bouchard scored his first NHL goal for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Rogers Place on Thursday.
Bouchard, the No. 10 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, scored on the power play on a shot from the point through traffic at 16:28 of the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.
“It feels good to beat the Stanley Cup champs,” Bouchard said. “I thought it was all around a good game. It was pretty special to go from watching [Washington] in the Stanley Cup Final last year, to getting to play against them. The goal was pretty special. I didn’t actually see it go in. I just saw the guys celebrating.”
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Oilers highlights]
Andre Burakovsky scored, and Braden Holtby made 28 saves for the Capitals (4-3-2).
“I really felt like, against a dangerous transition team, we really fueled their offense by the way we handled the puck,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “Our puck management was poor, and a lot of turnovers got us into trouble and kind of tilted the ice in their favor for really no reason.”
Video: [email protected]: Bouchard scores first NHL goal
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, Tobias Rieder had two assists and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for the Oilers (4-3-1), who are 4-1-1 in their past six games.
“It definitely is a confidence boost,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Just the way we played tonight, it didn’t matter who we played, we played a solid 60 minutes and didn’t give up too many Grade-A opportunities, or give up the puck too much. And when we had our chances, we capitalized. To keep a team like that to one goal is a good sign for our club.”
Nugent-Hopkins made it 2-0 at 10:06 of the second period with Edmonton’s first shorthanded goal of the season. After intercepting a back pass from Capitals defenseman John Carlson at the Washington blue line, he skated around Nicklas Backstrom before beating Holtby blocker side from the right circle.
“That was just a bad play, really,” Carlson said. “I really didn’t have to go direct in that situation, I had plenty of other options to do, and just made a bad play.”
Video: [email protected]: Nugent-Hopkins capitalizes on turnover
Burakovsky scored his first of the season to cut it to 2-1 at 12:21, taking a pass from Nic Dowd from behind the net and scoring from low in the left circle.
Alex Chiasson gave the Oilers a 3-1 lead at 9:16 of the third period on a shot from the high slot.
Chiasson, who signed with Edmonton as a free agent this offseason after winning the Stanley Cup with Washington last season, was presented his championship ring Thursday morning by Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.
“I don’t think I have a day with ups and downs in emotion like that,” Chiasson said. “It was super emotional to go back in that locker room and get that ring from [Ovechkin] and just be around the guy. It felt like I was part of that team again for a second. I had to move away from what happened this morning and in the past and focus on the game. It couldn’t have been a better outcome.”
Video: [email protected]: Chiasson beats Holtby glove side
Connor McDavid scored into an empty net to extend the lead to 4-1 at 18:43. He has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in eight games this season.
“It was a good night,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “We didn’t want to take penalties and we took one. We did a good job on the penalty kill. We scored a [shorthanded] goal. Power play? It wasn’t pretty, but we got one.”
They said it
“They played a pretty solid game. We had trouble being dangerous in the middle and couldn’t get anything going through the middle of the ice. We had some perimeter shots, but their goalie swallowed them up and they scored a power-play goal and a [shorthanded goal], so special teams were important tonight.” — Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen
“We limited their chances. We gave up one goal against a team that likes to win 6-5, 5-4. We knew coming in we couldn’t give them power-play opportunities, and we only gave them one. The way we checked tonight is what we need to do.” — Oilers goalie Cam Talbot
Need to know
Backstrom had a four-game point streak end (one goal, six assists). … Nugent-Hopkins has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past six games. … McDavid has at least one point in seven of eight games this season. … Bouchard, 19, is the third teenage defenseman to score an NHL goal this season, joining Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, 19, and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, 18.
What’s next
Capitals: At the Calgary Flames on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Oilers: At the Nashville Predators on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; FS-TN, SNW, NHL.TV)
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