New York Islanders (29-14-5 63pts) v. Washington Capitals (31-13-4 66pts)
Game Recap:
With fans in Capital One Arena for the first time in over 400 days, the Washington Capitals would host the New York Islanders for the final game of their eight game regular season series. In the first period the Daniel Sprong would strike 91 seconds into the period to give the Caps the quick 1-0 lead. After the goal it would be a relatively quiet period until the final two minutes when the Isles would have back to back tripping penalties called on them to give the Caps the two man advantage. However, the Caps would not capitalize on them to end the period.
In the second period we wouldn’t see any scoring, but we would see a lot of physicality. Early in the period Matt Martin would hit new Capital Michael Raffl from behind which would spark Zdeno Chara to step up and challenge Martin to a lopsided fight that Chara would dominate in. The Caps would dominate most of the period, but would give the Isles a late powerplay opportunity that they would shut down.
In the third period the Caps would give the Islanders two powerplay opportunities, but the Capitals would hold strong as Vitek Vaneck would stop all 18 shots faced to give the Capitals the 1-0 victory.
Lineups:
New York Islanders:
Josh Bailey — Mathew Barzal — Jordan Eberle
Travis Zajac — Brock Nelson — Kyle Palmieri
Anthony Beauvillier — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Oliver Wahlstrom
Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Nick Leddy — Scott Mayfield
Andy Greene — Braydon Coburn
Ilya Sorokin
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Ross Johnston, Leo Komarov, Sebastian Aho, Michael Dal Colle, Noah Dobson
Injured: Semyon Varlamov
Washington Capitals:
Daniel Sprong — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Lars Eller — Michael Raffl
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson
Brenden Dillon — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Zdeno Chara — Nick Jensen
Vitek Vanecek
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: None
Injured: Alex Ovechkin (lower body), Justin Schultz (lower body)
First Period:
WAS Goal – 1:29 – Daniel Sprong (10) from Dmitry Orlov (9)
NYI Penalty – 17:50 – Ryan Pulock 2 minutes for Tripping
NYI Penalty – 18:34 – Brayden Coburn 2 minutes for Tripping
| End of First | NYI – 0 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 7 | 10 |
| Faceoff Wins | 10 | 9 |
| Hits | 12 | 14 |
| Powerplay | 0/0 | 0/2 |
Second Period:
WAS Penalty – 4:20 – Zdeno Chara 5 minute major for Fighting
NYI Penalty – 4:20 – Matt Martin 5 minute major for Fighting
WAS Penalty – 18:36 – Daniel Sprong 2 minutes for Hooking
| End of Second | NYI – 0 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 12 | 23 |
| Faceoff Wins | 16 | 16 |
| Hits | 27 | 20 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/2 |
Third Period:
WAS Penalty – 10:50 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Slashing
NYI Penalty – 13:35 – Jean-Gabriel Pageau 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Penalty – 13:35 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Penalty – 14:22 – Anthony Mantha 2 minutes for Hooking
| End of Third | NYI – 0 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 18 | 33 |
| Faceoff Wins | 19 | 29 |
| Hits | 32 | 36 |
| Powerplay | 0/3 | 0/2 |
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