WASHINGTON D.C. -- Heading into their just-completed four-game road trip, the Edmonton Oilers needed some kind of spark, considering they had just four wins through 13 games to start the season. Ultimately, Oilers coach Todd McLellan knew victories wouldn’t come easy, though, especially away from home ice.

“When you leave your home building and head on the road, it doesn’t matter if you’re coming east or west, the teams are so close and the games are so fiercely fought that they’re all tough, and the swing isn’t easy,” McLellan said Sunday night after the team closed out the trip with a 2-1-1 record. “We’ll take the five of eight (points). We wish we could’ve got more, but now we’ve got a real task ahead of us heading home where we haven’t performed well.”

Edmonton beat the Islanders and Devils in overtime to start the trip before losing to the Rangers, 4-2, in regulation and the Caps in a shootout. Three of four of the games went to overtime and all four were close finishes, decided by two goals or fewer.

“We were down a lot of these games by one goal, and we never fold our hands,” defenceman Darnell Nurse said. “We always continue to play and that’s a good sign.”

Head coach Todd McLellan called the Oilers’ losing effort to Washington “perhaps our best game on the road,” and he was right.

Not only did they dominate in puck possession, but they outshot the Capitals 30-19, while also getting a goal from their bottom-six in the form of Jujhar Khaira's first goal of the season. Their much-maligned penalty kill, which allowed two power-play goals a day prior against the Rangers, was also perfect as Washington went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.

“Some of [the players] showed up with some urgency and it paid off,” McLellan said. “We were able to get something out of those bottom-six players and that’s nice to see, now carry it forward. We got a little momentum going; let’s put it on the ice again Tuesday and repeat it.”

McLellan said that the final game on the road trip appeared to be a step in the right direction for the team, but the rest of the road trip was not, especially in terms of production and scoring.

“We were begging for more from a lot of these players,” McLellan said. “Although we only got one [at Washington], I thought they were dangerous when they were out there.”

Despite some positives from that final game, there is a lot of work left to be done, and offence is the focal point for the team moving forward. The Oilers still have the worst offensive output in the league, averaging just 2.24 goals per game, and need to get more from their power play, which went 1-for-6 over their four-game trip. Their penalty kill also ranks 31st with just 71.4 percent success.

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The Oilers scored only eight goals on the trip. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl -- of course -- led the way with two goals apiece, including an overtime game-winner for each. Khaira, Jesse Puljujarvi and Anton Slepyshev each scored their first goals, while Milan Lucic had the other goal, raising a semblance of hope that the secondary scorers are showing signs of life.

“We need a little more scoring,” McLellan said. “We’re going to concentrate, penalty kill, power play… it’s early in the year. Our whole game has to polish up a little bit.”

Goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who stopped 18 of 19 shots Sunday in his first start since Oct. 17, said that it was a “little bit of a positive road trip” for the Oilers considering the team has “been losing at a pretty alarming rate,” but at the end of the day, they need to start stringing together some wins.

“More wins than losses after a road trip is nice, but at the same time, y’know, three more points were so close, so it definitely kind of hurts,” Brossoit said.