If any Edmonton fans came to see Alex Ovechkin work his magic on Saturday night, they may have left more dazzled by the Oilers' defensive prowess.
Dwayne Roloson made 19 saves to earn his first shutout of the season and Ryan Smyth and Joffrey Lupul recorded a goal and an assist each as the Oilers defeated the Washington Capitals 4-0.
Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin, left, collides with the Oilers' Daniel Tjarnqvist during the first period of Saturday's game in Edmonton.
(Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press)
Ovechkin came in with goals in his last four games but was limited to four shots in his first visit to Edmonton.
The reigning NHL rookie of the year had his best scoring chance in the first period, but his hard wrist shot was gloved on an acrobatic play by Roloson.
Fernando Pisani and Marty Reasoner added goals for the Oilers (7-4-0), which improved to a perfect 6-0-0 at home this season.
"It's a little bit of a change from last year," said Roloson. "Last year when I got here we were a great road team and at home we weren't as great.
"But we'll be fine on the road. We have a long trip coming up in a couple weeks and I'm sure we can turn it around then."
Caps coach pleased
Washington (3-3-4) gave No. 1 goalie Olaf Kolzig the night off after he stopped 42 shots in a shootout loss to Vancouver. Backup Brent Johnson made 24 saves Saturday night in relief.
Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said that, despite the lopsided score, his team played better than it did in dropping a 3-2 shootout decision in Vancouver on Friday.
"That is likely our best game of the three-game trip so far," Hanlon said. "To me it wasn't really a four-goal game. I almost have a better feeling tonight than I had after taking a point in Vancouver.
"It's a long process to get where we want to go this year but I think we looked farther ahead tonight than we did the night before."
Washington caps its road trip on Monday at Calgary.
Smyth opened the scoring with his sixth of the year 11:43 into the game. Streaking down the left wing, he gathered a pass from Lupul and drilled a high slap shot past the glove of Johnson.
The Oilers went up 2-0 at 5:40 of the third when Marc-Andre Bergeron fired the puck on net and Pisani got a piece to deflect it in.
Lupul put the game out of reach with 3:24 remaining when he banged a rebound past Johnson, and Reasoner added an empty-netter with just over a minute left.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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