Islanders' Mathew Barzal is a mixed bag in Game 4 loss to Capitals

It was all smiles for Mathew Barzal when he finished off a give-and-go with Nick Leddy, beating Washington goaltender Braden Holtby to give the Islanders a two-goal lead over the Capitals midway through the first period of Game 4 of the teams’ first-round playoff series Tuesday night in Toronto.

Up three games to none, and looking for a sweep, Barzal’s goal prompted a frustrated Todd Reirden, the Capitals coach, called his timeout, to yell at his troops and try to wake them up. Things were looking good for the Isles at that point.

But the timeout seemed to work for the Capitals, who picked up their game after that. And Barzal, meanwhile, would find himself going quickly from Islanders hero to goat. A couple of penalties taken early in the second period by the young center would help Washington get back in the game, and two goals by Alexander Ovechkin, including the winner, helped the Capitals to a 3-2 win that staved off elimination and kept them alive for at least two more days. Game 5 will be Thursday at the Scotiabank Centre in Toronto.

Things all started to go wrong for Barzal — and the Isles — when he and Washington’s Garnet Hathaway got into a fracas. Hathaway tried to check Barzal behind the net, but Barzal ducked under the hit, and the two players fell to the ice in a heap. As they got up, Barzal gave Hathaway a shot, the two exchanged shoves, and Hathaway dropped his gloves. Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield jumped in to tussle with Hathaway, and when the dust was settled, the Isles ended up with a power play, as Hathaway got a double minor for roughing, while Mayfield got a roughing penalty and Barzal got nothing.

But with a chance to go up, 3-0, and perhaps put the game away, the Isles’ power play — which went 0-for-4 in the game and is 1-for-19 in the series — came up empty.

“Yeah it does,’’ Barzal said afterward, when asked if the power play needs to produce more than it has. “They got a big one there with ‘Ovi’ (Ovechkin) on their power play, and we had looks tonight. I think — what did we have, five, six power plays tonight? We’ve got to find a way to put it in the back of the net.’’

The Islanders still led, 2-0 after one period and started the second on another power play. But again they failed to extend the lead, with Barzal ending the man advantage prematurely when he took a holding penalty at 1:29 of the second period. That penalty started a chain of events that saw both teams take penalties, until Evgeny Kuznetsov wound up scoring for the Capitals at 3:35, while the teams were skating four-on-four.

Eleven seconds later, Barzal was whistled for another holding penalty, and Ovechkin scored on the ensuing power play, to tie the score at 5:29.

Ovechkin’s second goal, at 3:40 of the third period, turned out to be the game-winner. Barzal drew a high-sticking penalty against Washington’s Brenden Dillon at 6:58 of the third period, but with a chance to tie the game, the Islanders’ power play let them down one more time. 

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.