Islanders extend point streak to seven games

NEW YORK -- Ryan Strome scored with 13:28 remaining and Thomas Greiss made 27 saves, including 15 in the third period, to help the New York Islanders to a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
Alan Quine and Johnny Boychuk also scored for New York (22-17-9), which extended its point streak to seven games (6-0-1). The Islanders are 5-0-1 since Doug Weight replaced Jack Capuano as coach on Jan. 17.
With the win, the Islanders moved within three points of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New York has three games in hand on Philadelphia.

WATCH: All Capitals vs. Islanders highlights
"Ever since probably the New Year, we've felt pretty good about ourselves," Strome said. "We're starting to be more confident. It feels good when you're winning games. The third period, we really had no nerves. I think that's just the strength of our team, just pretty poised and right now things are going good for us. You've got to feel good and we're going to get results."
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington (33-11-6). Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves.
"It was going to be one mistake, [and] we made a mistake in our own end and turned the puck over, and they right away capitalize on it," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "Overall, I thought both teams played pretty well. It was going to be a mistake here or a mistake there that was going to be the difference."
Kuznetsov gave Washington a 1-0 lead 4:41 into the game when he took a pass from Justin Williams, split the defense and beat Greiss with a wrist shot from the slot for his 10th goal of the season and fifth in the past six games.

Quine tied it with a power-play goal 2:41 into the second period when he was left alone at the right goal post for his fifth of the season.
Boychuk scored an empty-net goal with 1:08 remaining, but Ovechkin made it 3-2 with his 549th NHL goal with 46.5 seconds left.
Washington outshot New York 16-7 in the third period.

Goal of the game

New York took a 2-1 lead after Jay Beagle turned the puck over behind the Capitals net. Anthony Beauvillier collected the puck and sent it in front to Brock Nelson, who quickly fed Strome for an easy tap-in.

Save of the game

Greiss slid across his crease to secure Ovechkin's wrist shot from the top of the left circle to keep it 1-1 with 10:52 left in the second period.

Highlight of the game

Andrew Ladd took a pass from Calvin de Haan and released a wrist shot from the right circle that hit the corner of the left goal post, the crossbar and the back of Grubauer's skate before trickling over to Quine at the right side of the net, where he quickly shot it into a gaping net to make it 1-1.

Unsung performance of the game

Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg stepped up in the absence of Travis Hamonic and Thomas Hickey, who did not play because of lower-body injuries. Seidenberg blocked four shots and had three hits in 20:45 of ice time.

They said it

"We just keep playing. We go for the goal instead of sitting back. We make less mistakes, get the puck out, get it deep and just play a more solid game." -- Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss
"I learned that we do have it in our room, and that what we feel as a coaching staff is true about our team; we have a lot of heart and we have a lot of character. They're tight, and they love doing it for each other. They love working. I know how bad they want it, because they put the work in. They're attentive off the ice, they come to practice to work. They have fun. I know we have more talent than people give us credit for, and I think guys are starting to show that." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight
"It was one of the guys you've just got to try and get it deep and work hard and be patient. I think there was a lot of shots from the point. That's the kind of game that it was tonight. You can really tell that these guys have been … they're blocking shots, they're playing really desperate. Somehow, you've got to try and get the puck through and get some traffic in front, but they did a good job of that tonight." -- Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom

Need to know

Washington has lost three games in regulation since Dec. 27. Two of them have been against the Islanders. … Capitals defenseman John Carlson returned to the lineup after missing six games because of a lower-body injury. … It was the first-ever NHL game between two German-born goaltenders.

What's next

Capitals: Host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SNE, SNO, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)
Islanders: At the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN-US, FS-D+, MSG+, NHL.TV)