After taking another big lead over Capitals, Islanders able to hold off Washington this time
WASHINGTON — The Islanders held Alex Ovechkin without a goal, keeping him two shy of reaching 700. More importantly, this time they held a lead against the Capitals.
“We kind of felt we owed these guys one from the last game,” Anthony Beauvillier said. “A big win for us.”
Beauvillier scored twice in the first period and the Islanders built a four-goal lead before beating the Metropolitan Division leaders, 5-3, on Monday night at Capital One Arena to conclude a two-game road trip.
The Capitals had won the previous meeting, 6-4, at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 18 — Ovechkin had a hat trick — by erasing a three-goal deficit with five third-period goals.
“When they got it to 5-3 in the second period, I’m sure people were thinking back to that last game,” Brock Nelson said. “We did a good job coming back in the third. It doesn’t need to be pretty when you’re up like that. You’ve just got to find a way to make those big moments. We were able to do that.”
Thomas Greiss made 25 saves and Nelson and Josh Bailey each had three assists for the Islanders (32-16-6), who moved back into third place in the division as the Blue Jackets lost in overtime to the visiting Lightning, 2-1.
Ilya Samsonov exited at 10:36 of the second period after allowing five goals on 20 shots for the Capitals (36-15-5), who were coming off a 7-2 loss to the visiting Flyers on Saturday. Braden Holtby stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief.
“We played a really good game,” Anders Lee said. “We knew it was going to be a tough matchup coming in and we all know what happened last time. I think we did a much better job of holding our fort.”
The Islanders opened a 3-1 lead after one period, with defenseman Devon Toews cutting to the crease to take Bailey’s feed for a four-on-four goal at 18:06 and then turning away without much of a celebration.
In the last game against the Capitals, Toews drew coach Barry Trotz’s ire for “poking the bear” by imitating Evgeny Kuznetsov’s unique, birdlike goal celebration after giving the Islanders a 4-1 lead late in the second period. Washington responded with five unanswered goals.
Kuznetsov left Monday’s game at 9:14 of the second period with an upper-body issue after Leo Komarov checked him into the side boards.
Komarov’s shot from the right circle through Samsonov’s pads — the Islanders’ 11th shot of the game — made it 4-1 just 45 seconds into the second period. Jordan Eberle’s top-shelf tip-in of Lee’s feed made it 5-1 at 10:36.
“I thought our top guys delivered tonight,” said Trotz, who improved to 4-0 in Washington as Islanders coach since leading the Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018. “They had been a little quiet for us and they delivered tonight. They’re going to have to deliver down the stretch.”
Lars Eller cut the Islanders’ lead to 5-2 as he worked at the crease at 11:25 of the second period. T.J. Oshie’s power-play goal from the left circle — Ovechkin’s usual spot — made it 5-3 at 16:59 of the period.
Beauvillier had made it 1-0 at 3:30 of the first period, taking a feed from Bailey to complete a three-on-two rush. Beauvillier pushed it to 2-0 at 6:16 only seconds after Samsonov was forced to make a point-blank save on Bailey as the Capitals fumbled the puck deep in their zone.
John Carlson cut the Capitals’ deficit to 2-1 at 12:55 with a shot from the right point that deflected off defenseman Johnny Boychuk’s knee.
The Islanders will face the Flyers on Tuesday night at Barclays Center before starting a four-game western road trip at Nashville on Thursday night.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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