Washington Capitals (0-1-0 0pts) v. New York Islanders (0-1-0 0pts)

Game Recap

The Washington Capitals enter the weekend with a back-to-back road trip in New York, starting with a visit to Long Island to battle the New York Islanders. Before the game, head coach Spencer Carbery discussed with the media some of his thoughts. “I wouldn’t say that. I mean, I, we know the chemistry we’ve watched it for long enough now to know that there’s chemistry between Stromer [Dylan Strome], O [Alex Ovechkin] and Pro [Aliaksei Protas], Stromer, O, and Mikey [Connor McMichael], Stromer, O, and [Anthony] Beauvillier, so,” Carbery said when asked about building chemistry compared to looking for a spark during a game. “It, it’s more about. The chemistry doesn’t come and go. It just you, you go through ebbs and flows in a season and I know it’s early and so we’re just looking, especially in games where. You know, you can tell execution, puck touches, puck handling, shots missing the net. Those things are off a little bit. It’s just my job to, you know, try to help that and, and what can I do to try to, um. Create a little bit of chemistry and a spark that potentially gives us an opportunity to score a goal to tie a game that’s all it is. And so going back and forth with the lines and moving things around is is a head coach’s way and their job, in my opinion, is to find whether you stay with something or you get away from something is just trying to help your group and help your individual players find what works that night.”

In the first period, the Capitals would work fast and strike early as Alex Ovechkin would whip the puck on net from the point and defenseman Martin Fehérváry would crash the net and get the rebound past Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin 1:50 into the game to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. Then after some quiet hockey, Aliaksei Protas would strike for his first of the season with a snapshot from the slot to give the Capitals the 2-0 lead. Then with 2:13 left in the first period, the Capitals would get the first powerplay opportunity of the game as Mathew Barzal would get called for hooking Protas. For the Capitals, they didn’t do much with the powerplay once again, and became 0 for 6 on the powerplay so far through four periods of action. However, the Capitals were still very solid in the first period as the outshot the Islanders 9 to 2, but the Islanders were better in the faceoff circle winning 62.5 percent of the faceoffs in the first period.

During the first intermission, Martin Fehérváry would be interviewed by Al Koken on Monumental Sports Network. “I mean, uh, I just I kinda went to pinch up to keep the puck alive in the o-zone,” Fehérváry said when asked about his goal. “Ovi shoot it and it just bounced right on my tape and I just try to put it in the net and I did so, I’m really happy about it.”

“I mean, uh, I think we’ve done really good job last year, we basically do same D pairs with same guys,” Fehérváry said when asked about the defense pinching in and helping with the offense. “We just trying to do our job as best as we can.”

In the second period, Brandon Duhaime would get tied up and banged up early on in the period, but he would return shortly after heading to the locker room briefly. In the early part of the period, the Islanders controlled the play and hemmed the Capitals into their own zone to generate some quality scoring chances, but goaltender Logan Thompson would be up to the task to keep the Islanders off the board. At the 7:44 mark of the second period, Kyle Palmieri would trip Protas to give the Capitals their second powerplay of the game, but Adam Pelech would break up two passing plays by the Capitals. The Capitals would get a couple chances on Sorokin, but he would smother the puck to stop the Capitals. While the Capitals would not strike on the powerplay, Ryan Leonard would snipe it past Sorokin 6 seconds after the powerplay expired to give the Capitals the 3-0 lead. This would mark Leonard’s first of season, second career NHL goal, and first against a goaltender. Later into the period, Protas would get a scoring opportunity after blocking a Tony DeAngelo shot attempt, and he would get the loose puck in the offensive zone, on what felt like could be a breakaway, and he would just one-touch the puck and shoot it right past Sorokin’s stick side for his second of the game and to grow the Capitals lead to four. Then with 1:17 left in the period, Jakob Chychrun would take an elbowing penalty  to give the Islanders their first powerplay opportunity. The Islanders, however, would only need 8 seconds to score on the powerplay and end Thompson’s shutout bid as Anthony Duclair would net his first of the season for the Islanders to cut the Capitals lead back to three. The Capitals would get one final scoring chance, but Sorokin would rob Protas of the potential hat trick goal to keep the score at 4-1 in favor of the Capitals heading into the second intermission.

During the second intermission, Ryan Leonard would be interviewed by Koken. “This was a little bit better for sure,” Leonard said when asked if this goal was sweeter than his first career NHL goal. “Especially on the powerplay. We had a lot of good looks the first game, and just didn’t get rewarded, but it was good to see that puck go in the net.”

“Hundred percent,” Leonard said when asked about the momentum the first powerplay unit created before his goal. “They went out there and did their job and it just didn’t go in for them. They got chances, quality chances right at the net and we were lucky enough to capitalize.”

Then in the third period, it would be a rather slow start to the period, but 3:26 into the period, Matt Roy would take a penalty for slashing to put the Islanders on their second powerplay of the game. During the powerplay, there would be a mad scramble in the Capitals crease, and it looked like Bo Horvat hand passed the puck back to generate the scoring opportunity for rookie, and 1st overall draft pick of the 2025 Draft, Matthew Schaefer came crashing in to poke the puck past Thompson. After a very lengthy review, it was ruled that there was no hand pass, and Schaefer would be awarded his first career NHL goal to cut the Capitals lead to two. As a result of the failed coach’s challenge, the Capitals went back to the penalty kill with the delay of game penalty. The Capitals and Islanders would continue to generate chances, but neither would be able to score. With about 4:30 left in regulation, the Islanders would pull Sorokin for the extra attacker. However, the Capitals would keep the Islanders at bay to secure the 4-2 victory.

After the game, Protas was interviewed by Koken. “I think we took care of our chances,” Protas said when asked about what the team improved from last game in this one. “Yea I mean, we had lots of them and some of them got in, so that’s good and defensively I think we were better, but like I said, work ahead.”

“Yeah, I felt like all four lines had their contributing in the defensive zone,” Ryan Leonard said when asked about the clicking better in this game.  “Every line had great offensive shifts, sustained ozone pressure, so it was great. Yeah, it was great up and down the lineup.”

The Capitals definitely played better against the Islanders than they did Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins. “Yeah, maybe first game jitters out of the way or something like that. We knew we were capable of it. It’s not like we played bad last game,” Leonard said. “We just didn’t really get our bounces and their goalie played amazing. So sometimes that happens, but today we played a full six, so it was great.”

“I think we had so many good chances off of a forecheck. We always think we’re a good forecheck team, and we had so many chances off of it. I think the neutral zone transitioned,” Aliaksei Protas said after the game to the media. “We were way faster today against Boston. I think we were moving back way faster. Yeah, like I said, capitalize on our chances. So many areas to clean up, but I think we’ll get through that as the season goes on.”

“I’m not, like, overall happy with the game I had today,” Protas claimed. “There is, like, so many areas to clean up for me, especially, like, on the penalty kill and the little D zone exits. I’ve got to be better. But, I mean, overall for sure it gives you confidence to keep going. I think we’re a good offensive team. We work together, and, yeah, when we work together as a team, I think everyone gets rewarded individually.”

For Logan Thompson, he felt the Capitals did a good job in front of him. “Yeah, similar to two, felt similar to the Boston game right off the bat. I thought we came out hot and controlled a lot of the play,” Thompson explained. “We kept their big guns and their guys to the other side and credit to the group. I think through 30, 40 minutes, didn’t see a lot of that from them.”

“I mean, it’s a 30-goal scorer. You know, happy for him [Protas],” Thompson said when asked about Protas’s game. “He’s just getting better it seems like every year, and he’s going to be a special player in this league for a while.”

“Yeah, me and Johnny [Carlson] thought it was a hand pass,” Thompson said about the Matthew Schaefer goal review. “So that was on me for telling Carbs to challenge it. Unfortunately, I guess it wasn’t seen that way. That’s hockey. But yeah, credit for him for driving the paint there when we got a little rough. So credit to him, and he’s an exciting player. I’m excited to watch him.”

The Capitals pick things back up on Sunday with a 7p ET matchup with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

 

*H/T to Ted Starkey for the post game scrum quotes.

 

Lineups

Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Connor McMichael

Aliaksei Protas — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson

Anthony Beauvillier — Hendrix Lapierre — Ryan Leonard

Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Justin Sourdif

Martin Fehérváry — John Carlson

Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk

Rasmus Sandin — Matt Roy

Logan Thompson

Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Sonny Milano, Vincent Iorio, Declan Chisholm

Injured: Dylan McIlrath (lower body)

 

New York Islanders

Anthony Duclair — Bo Horvat — Emil Heineman

Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Kyle Palmieri

Maxim Shabanov — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Simon Holmstrom

Marc Gatcomb — Casey Cizikas — Maxim Tsyplakov

Alexander Romanov — Tony DeAngelo

Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock

Matthew Schaefer — Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin

David Rittich

Scratched: Kyle MacLean, Adam Boqvist

Injured: Calum Ritchie (lower body), Pierre Engvall (hip surgery), Semyon Varlamov (knee surgery)

Suspended: Jonathan Drouin

 

First Period

WAS Goal – 1:50 – Martin Fehérváry (1) from Alex Ovechkin (1) and John Carlson (1)

WAS Goal – 13:52 – Aliaksei Protas (1) from Jakob Chychrun (2) and Tom Wilson (1)

NYI Penalty – 17:47 – Mathew Barzal – 2 minutes for Hooking

 

End of First	WAS – 2	NYI – 0
Shots	9	2
Faceoff Wins	6/16	10/16
Hits	9	10
Powerplay	0/1	N/A

 

Second Period

NYI Penalty – 7:44 – Kyle Palmieri – 2 minutes for Tripping

WAS Goal – 9:50 – Ryan Leonard (1) from Jakob Chychrun (3) and Aliaksei Protas (2)

WAS Goal – 15:30 – Aliaksei Protas (2) from unassisted

WAS Penalty – 18:43 – Jakob Chychrun 2 minutes for Elbowing

NYI PPG – 18:51 – Anthony Duclair (1) from Bo Horvat (1) and Kyle Palmieri (1)

 

End of Second	WAS – 4	NYI – 1
Shots	23	15
Faceoff Wins	19/40	21/40
Hits	18	23
Powerplay	0/2	1/1

Third Period

WAS Penalty – 3:26 – Matt Roy – 2 minutes for Slashing

NYI PPG – 4:28 – Matthew Schaefer (1) from Kyle Palmieri (2) and Bo Horvat (2)

WAS Penalty – 4:28 – Bench (served by Alex Ovechkin) – 2 minutes for Delay of Game (unsuccessful challenge)

 

End of Third	WAS – 4	NYI – 2
Shots	29	36
Faceoff Wins	30/61	31/61
Hits	23	33
Powerplay	0/2	2/3

 

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