Top 3 winners against the Oilers

The Washington Capitals earned a gutsy 3-2 win on Monday night over the Edmonton Oilers. They kept that high flying offense in check and the offense was there when it needed to be and generated chances throughout the night.

The Caps tied a season high for shots in a period with 22 in the opening 20 minutes. They didn’t score but had two in the second period, each one to tie the game.

The game winner came in the third period with a goal by Nic Dowd off a sweet pass from Aliaksei Protas on the breakaway.

Here were the top 3 heroes and winners from the game.

#3 Aliaksei Protas

Aliaksei Protas provided the game winning assist. He stared down Oilers net minder Stuart Skinner and could’ve shot the puck. But he very well could’ve been stopped as Skinner made 47 saves on the night.

Instead he found Nic Dowd for the game winner. He was wide open and charged toward the net and it totally faked out Skinner.

Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette said, “It might have been Pro’s best game as a Washington Capital.”

Other than that Protas was good on defense as he shut down the Oilers top line. He’s only 21 but he used his towering presence throughout the game.

#2 T.J. Oshie

T.J. Oshie had a goal in the second period to tie the game at two apiece. It came on a tic tac toe type of play. Oshie positioned himself in front of the net. Evgeny Kuznetsov worked the puck to Dylan Strome behind the net. Strome found a wide open Oshie for the bang bang play.

The goal came on the power play at 16:55 in the second period. It was a one timer from the slot.

For Oshie it was his third power play goal of the season. His three power play goals rank second on the Capitals behind only Alex Ovechkin, who has six.

The set up by Strome marked his 10th power play point which ranks second on the Capitals. Strome has two goals and eight assists on the man advantage while Ovechkin has 12 power play points.

Strome and Kuznetsov are tied for the team lead in assists with 15 each. The Caps had four power play goals in their previous win against the Oilers on Nov. 7. The Caps have scored a power play goal in six of their last seven games dating back to Nov. 23 which is six goals on 21 opportunities, equaling out to a success rate of 28.6 percent.