Caps Finish Trip with Rematch vs. Isles
Washington concludes a five-game, eight day road trip on Tuesday against the Islanders
Washington's five-game tour of the three metro New York area arenas comes to a conclusion on Tuesday night on Long Island when the Caps face the Islanders for the second time on the trip. Last Thursday, the Caps absorbed an 8-4 doubling up at the hands of the Isles here. The game is the rubber match of the journey for the Caps, who are 2-2-0 on the trip to date. Both Washington wins came over the weekend in New Jersey.
Tuesday's rematch is another battle for the top spot in the East Division. Both the Caps and the Islanders have 18 games remaining, including four against one another. The Caps come into Tuesday's game with a two-point lead over New York, which is two points ahead of third-place Pittsburgh. Boston is currently running fourth, seven points behind the Penguins. But the Bruins have four games in hand on the rest of the pack; winning three of those four would put the B's right into the thick of the chase as well.
Last week's visit to the Island was a rare misstep from Washington's standpoint. The Caps briefly lost goaltender Ilya Samsonov to injury just 30 seconds into the game, and although they jumped out to a 1-0 lead half a minute after that, Washington suffered numerous defensive breakdowns and made too many mistakes to have a chance against a skilled and opportunistic Islanders attack, which scored four goals in the first and two each in the second and the third, led by Mathew Barzal's hat trick and five-point performance.
"I don't think we liked that game," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "We try to forget all the losses; it doesn't matter if it's 5-0 or 1-0, it's still a loss. We just forget about it and move on."
After Thursday's loss on Long Island, the Caps swept a pair of games from the Devils in New Jersey, a 2-1 overtime win on Friday and a 5-4 victory on Sunday afternoon in Washington's third game in less than 72 hours. The Caps were clearly weary and were outplayed for vast stretches of Sunday's game, but they were opportunistic enough to score five goals on just 19 shots, and they found a way to win as good teams often do.
"It was a great response," says Ovechkin of the weekend wins. "We played against a good hockey club, fast and young and they have lots of talent. But it doesn't matter who we play, we just have to collect the points and that's what we did."
"Listen, it wasn't perfect," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "It wasn't clean for us. We did enough to win. We had a tough outing in Long Island and then we get together to pull it back together in back-to-back games, so no practice [on Saturday]. And then that next day there is no pregame skate because of a three o'clock start, so there were a lot of things that were just a little bit different, a little bit funny [on Sunday].
"It wasn't a good start. I thought the second period got better for us. The third period - even though they scored a couple later in the period - I thought was a better period. The guys pulled it together, did the work and got it done."
The Caps got great goaltending over the weekend in New Jersey. Vitek Vanecek stopped 22 of 23 shots in Friday's overtime win, and Samsonov was heroic in stopping 35 of 39 against the Devils on Sunday, a game in which Washington was outshot 39-19, out-attempted 69-33 and out-attempted 54-29 at 5-on-5.
Sixteen of Samsonov's stops came in the first period, keeping the Caps within striking distance until they could find their legs. And he stopped all seven shots he faced during New Jersey's 6:14 worth of power play time.
"I think he was great," says Caps left wing Carl Hagelin of Samsonov's Sunday performance. "He made so many big saves, when we were on the [penalty kill] and on a couple of back door tap-ins that he made great saves on. He was a big key to why we won today, and we hope he continues doing that for us."
Since the Caps departed the Island after their loss late last week, the Islanders have played only once, winning a 3-2 shootout decision over Philadelphia here on Saturday. The Isles took a 2-0 lead into the third period on a pair of Anthony Beauvillier goals, but needed Barzal's shootout game-winner to prevail after Flyers captain Claude Giroux struck twice in the third to force overtime.
The Islanders boast a superb 15-1-2 record on home ice, and they're currently in the midst of a six-game homestand. The Flyers come back in on Thursday, and the New York Rangers visit for a pair of weekend games before the Isles head back out of town again. Philadelphia handed the Islanders their only regulation loss at home thus far this season, a 4-3 defeat on March 18.
