This Date in Caps History - February 8
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PrintOn February 8, 1986, the Washington Capitals defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers by a 5-4 score before a sellout crowd of 18,130 at the Capital Centre in Landover.
Bobby Carpenter started the scoring for Washington with his 18th goal of the season at 5:44 of the first period. Scott Stevens and Bobby Gould assisted. Just 59 seconds later, Washington's "Plumber Line" struck when Greg Adams netted his 15th goal of the campaign. Linemates Craig Laughlin and Alan Haworth drew the assists on Adams' goal. Edmonton got on the board at 10:05 of the period when Dave Hunter scored off a feed from Wayne Gretzky. At 16:19, Washington's Jorgen Petterson scored a power play goal to restore the Capitals' two-goal lead. Dave Christian and Larry Murphy picked up the assists on Petterson's goal. The Capitals fired 18 shots at Edmonton netminder Andy Moog while the Oil countered with eight against Washington's Pete Peeters.
Edmonton's Raimo Summanen pulled the Oilers to within a goal with his 16th of the season at 3:29 of the middle period. Less than five minutes later, Paul Coffey scored an unassisted power play goal to tie the game at 3-3. Gould regained the lead for Washington at 13:39 of the second when he scored an unassisted shorthanded goal, his 10th tally of the season. The Caps outshot the Oilers 12-7 in the second frame.
Edmonton's Jari Kurri - on his way to becoming the first European-born player to lead the NHL in goals - scored his 40th of the season at 8:24 of the third period to tie the game at 4-4. Gretzky picked up the primary assist on the Kurri goal. Kurri would go on to score 28 goals in his last 25 games and would finish with a league-leading total of 68. Edmonton outshot Washington 18-8 in the third period.
Washington came away with the victory when Bengt Gustafsson scored his 18th goal of the season 3:42 into the overtime session. Christian and Murphy picked up the helpers. Each club had two shots on goal in the extra period; the Caps led by a 40-35 count on the evening.
With a goal and an assist, Gould was the game's number one star. Caps defenseman Rod Langway earned second star honors on the strength of a solid night's work on the blue line. Edmonton's Randy Gregg had two assists and was the game's third star.
