Washington Capitals (36-21-7 79pts) v. New York Islanders (37-19-7 81pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals head to Nassau Coliseum for the first time to take on the New York Islanders, and it would be the Islanders that would get on the board early as Tom Kuhnhackl would score in the opening minutes of the game on a very casual breakaway due to a blown offside by the officials. Then Alex Ovechkin would take a very blatant interference penalty, but the Capitals would kill the penalty off.
A very uneventful second period outside of a Brett Connolly penalty, and some heavy hits on both ends of the ice.
Unlike the second period, the third period would be fast and hectic in the first half of the period. The Capitals would strike early as Jakub Vrana would battle in front of the net and knock in the rebound to tie the game at one, then right away on the powerplay it would be Alex Ovechkin batting the puck and getting a lucky bounce to get his 45th of the season and give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. This would be followed with 3 penalties that would start with a Capitals powerplay, and then end in a Capitals powerplay. Then to ice the game for the Capitals, with Thomas Griess pulled TJ Oshie would clear the puck out of the zone and without paying attention Josh Bailey accidentally shot the puck into his own net to give the Capitals a 3-1 victory.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals :
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Nick Jensen
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Chandler Stephenson, Christian Djoos
New York Islanders :
Anders Lee — Brock Nelson — Jordan Eberle
Tom Kuhnhackl — Mathew Barzal — Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier — Valtteri Filppula — Leo Komarov
Ross Johnston — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy — Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield
Thomas Greiss
Robin Lehner
Scratched: Thomas Hickey, Luca Sbisa, Andrew Ladd, Matt Martin
First Period:
Islanders Goal – 2:43 – Tom Kuhnhackl (4) from unassisted
Capitals Penalty – 3:47 – Alex Ovechkin 2 minutes for Interference
End of 1st – WAS – 0 NYI – 1
Shots 12 09
Faceoffs 09 07
Hits 10 16
PP 0/0 0/1
Second Period:
Capitals Penalty – 2:53 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Tripping
End of 2nd – WAS- 0 NYI- 1
Shots 19 13
Faceoffs 19 18
Hits 21 29
PP 0/0 0/2
Third Period:
Capitals Goal – 3:26 – Jakub Vrana (19) from Nicklas Backstrom (46) and Michal Kempny (15)
Islanders Penalty – 4:21 – Anders Lee 2 minutes for Interference
Capitals PPG – 4:34 – Alex Ovechkin (45) from TJ Oshie (21) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (42)
Islanders Penalty – 8:11 – Anthony Beauvillier 2 minutes for Goalie Interference
Capitals Penalty – 8:26 – John Carlson 2 minutes for High Sticking
Islanders Penalty – 9:58 – Ryan Pulock 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals ENG – 18:32 – TJ Oshie (21) from unassisted
End of 3rd – WAS – 3 NYI – 1
Shots 29 21
Faceoffs 31 24
Hits 28 36
PP 1/3 0/2
Next Up:
Washington (37-21-7 81pts) @NY Rangers (27-27-4 67pts)
NY Islanders (37-20-7 81pts) v. Philadelphia (31-26-8 70pts)
