Between Two Posts: A Deep Dive Into The Capitals' Nacho-Filled Win Over The Oilers

Well, it wasn't pretty. And it certainly wasn't always good. But the Washington Capitals will certainly take the two points from a hard-earned 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

It wasn't all bad, of course. Pierre-Luc Dubois remained red hot, Tom Wilson scored his 20th of the season, nd Logan Thompson had himself a night despite alleged interference by a plate of nachos (we'll circle back to that).

Pierre-Luc Dubois Continues His Hot Streak, Tom Wilson Hits 20 Goals

We'll kick off this analysis with some positives, namely Pierre-Luc Dubois grabbing two points.

He first nabbed the primary assist on Matt Roy's second-period goal that gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead. Later in the third, PLD slam-dunked a rebound off a Lars Eller shot that Stuart Skinner had lost track of.

Dubois has really found a home in the Washington lineup, and has really been able to show his skillset properly under coach Spencer Carbery. He projects to finish with about 67 points this season, which wouold be a career-high if he's able to keep it up. He's also the team's leading scorer since Nov. 10.

If he keeps playing this way, there's no reason to believe he can't.

Tom Wilson also scored his 20th of the season last night off a 2-on-1 feed from Aliaksei Protas, and continues to have himself a great year so far. He projects to have 35 goals and 61 points when the season wraps up, which will be career-best numbers for him as well.

Offense Continues To Struggle, Props To The PK & Defense

Some issues that have plagued the Capitals recently continue to be an issue, to the point where it's becoming a genuine concern about whether they can fix this come playoff time.

As we've mentioned ad nauseam previously on this site, good teams will find ways to win. And yes, D.C. is doing just that. Two points are two points, no matter how they come.

But certain systemic issues within the Washington structure are starting to really show signs of cracking. On the offensive side of the puck, zone entries and staying organized in the offensive zone are two noticeable problems we've seen from the team lately.

Several times in Edmonton (and in many games in recent weeks), the Capitals have struggled with clean entries into the offensive zone. Against some weaker teams this is less of an issue, but a team like Edmonton has the speed and acumen to stop the driving Washington players, or breakup passes, and prevent dump-and-chase entries. Edmonton is a fast and skilled team, and D.C. needed to be on top of its game.

Couple this with Washington's struggles to maintain possession in the offensive zone, and it certainly made their job more difficult.

Last night, Edmonton did an excellent job of keeping the Capitals from maintaining consistent offensive zone pressure, holding them to just 14 shots to their 32.

The Oilers also maintained better possession throughout the night, keeping Washington hemmed in their defensive zone through much of the night, and finishing with a 65.74 percent Corsi-for compared to the Capitals' 34.26 percent.

The heat map above shows Edmonton's ability to get shots towards Logan Thompson from high-danger areas of the zone, and were able to generate far more shot attempts than the Capitals were through the night. They also generated 18 high-danger scoring chances compared to Washington's 10.

Obviously, the stat that matters most is the score, and Washington scored three times on Stuart Skinner. But my main concern here is if the Capitals can maintain this going down the stretch into the playoffs.

D.C. started the season off playing such a dynamic and potent offensive game, so seeing it struggle like this now is jarring. I hope Carbery and the rest of the coaches can solve this Rubik's cube that is the Washington offense soon.

While the forecheck has been an issue, the backcheck hasn't. The Capitals have stepped up defensively, and again, the penalty kill shined, going 3-for-3 against Leon Draisaitl and the high-flying Oilers, who are a threat even without Connor McDavid. The PK has ranked in the top three for the majority of the season and just continues to get better.

Logan Thompson Is No Mere Man

Once again, the Capitals owe a debt of gratitude and a super nice bottle of Scotch to Logan Thompson, who managed to stop 30 of 32 shots he faced last night. The only two that came against him were courtesy of Leon Draisaitl, and then Corey Perry with an assist from a plate of nachos that got thrown onto the ice mid-play.

Thompson took accountability for the goal, saying he should play through the whistle rather than be distracted by the chips and cheese. Still, quite a sight to behold as he advanced to 22-2-3.

I'm not sure what more I can say about LT, who has cemented himself as a true No. 1 goaltender in this league very quickly. His .925 save percentage ranks second best in the league, and he also leads the NHL in goals saved above expected.

As I've said before, it's pretty criminal that he doesn't get mentioned in the Vezina conversation, and in a normal season where Connor Hellebuyck and others aren't playing out of their minds, and if he hadn't been rotating with Charlie Lindgren in the first half, he probably would be.

But I'm sure LT's main drive is the Stanley Cup, and he can quietly backstop the Capitals to success all season if it means he gets to hold that trophy over his head in the end.

Onto The Next One

I hate sounding almost overly critical of the Capitals, because they're in first place (in the entire league) and have won five straight while managing points in 11 consecutive outings. It feels better to complain about things like this rather than complain that they're underachieving or just having an utterly garbage season.

But this team is even better than we've seen in recent games. We've seen them through the first half of the season play much better than this.  And I'm still certain that Carbery will find a way to iron out this wrinkle before too late.

The road trip continues to Washington State for a showdown with the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. Seattle has struggled through the season to remain consistent, and is near the middle of the league in terms of goals for and against per game. They have plenty of talent on the roster, with Matty Beniers, Kaapo Kakko and Jaden Schwartz (plus former Capitals Andre Burakovsky and Chandler Stephenson), and aren't a team to be taken lightly.

This is a good time for the Capitals to dust themselves off after gritting out a win, and look to start fixing some nagging issues.