Dubois paces hot Capitals to 3-2 road win over Oilers

Washington Capitals' Tom Wilson (43) scores a goal against Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) during first period NHL action in Edmonton on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. (Jason Franson / The Canadian Press) (JASON FRANSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

EDMONTON — Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist as the league-leading Washington Capitals won their fifth game in a row, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Tuesday.

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Tom Wilson and Matt Roy also scored for the Capitals (32-10-5) who have earned at least a point in an NHL-high 11 straight games, going 8-0-3 in that span.

Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry replied for the Oilers (29-15-3) who have lost two in a row on the heels of earning victories in eight of their previous nine.

The Oilers were without star forward Connor McDavid, serving the first game of a three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland on Saturday.

Logan Thompson made 31 stops in net for the Capitals, while Stuart Skinner recorded just 11 saves in the loss for the Oilers.

TAKEAWAYS

Washington: Dubois now has 38 points in 47 games this season as he continues to bounce back strongly from a tough year in Los Angeles last season, where he recorded just 40 points in 82 games with the Kings. Dubois was traded to the Capitals by Los Angeles for Darcy Kuemper last June.

Oilers: Draisaitl scored his league-leading 34th goal of the season. Draisaitl extended his points streak to seven games and hit the 70 points mark. It was the 29th time in his career that Draisaitl has scored a goal in the first five minutes of a game, passing teammate McDavid’s 28 to move into a tie for second in Oilers franchise history with Wayne Gretzky. He is now just one goal back of franchise leader Mark Messier, who had 30.

KEY MOMENT

Washington made it a 3-1 game less than four minutes into the third period as Lars Eller slid a backhand through Skinner’s legs that went off the post but came out to an untouched Dubois who slammed home his ninth of the season. Edmonton was outshooting the Capitals 27-11 at that point.

KEY STAT

Edmonton came into the game with a 17-3-3 record when scoring first, but the Capitals have proven to be the best team in the league at staging comebacks. They are now 15-5-2 when allowing the first goal of the game.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press