Washington Capitals erupt for five goal second period in win over Islanders
The Washington Capitals looked like they were out of gas in the early going on Thursday night after an emotional win two nights prior. Whatever Peter Laviolette told the team at the first intermission, it seemed to light a fire under the team.
The first period was all New York Islanders while the second period was ALL CAPS. The Isanders scored three goals in the first period while the Caps answered with five unanswered goals in the second.
Oliver Wahlstorm put the Islanders up 1-0 at 9:50. They doubled their lead 18 seconds later on a goal from Casey Cizikas. After Tom Wilson went to the box for tripping, Anders Lee scored on the power play to make it 3-0. 3-0 would be the score after one with the Islanders leading in shots 10-8.
The Caps got on the board at 9:07. Off a shot from John Carlson, Conor Sheary ripped a shot through traffic for his first goal as a Capital. Breden Dillon had the secondary assist.
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Sheary scored his second goal of the game at 10:20 off a deflection on a shot from Zdeno Chara. Sheary was positioned in the right spot in order to create that play. Richard Panik had the secondary assist.
At 11:11 Garnet Hathaway took a puck gliding down the ice and ripped in a shot to tie the score. On the bench he was nodding his head along to his goal song “What is love?” by Haddaway. Carl Hagelin and Nic Dowd had the helpers.
After Whalstorm was called for hooking T.J. Oshie, the Caps went to the power play. On the attack they took the lead at 14:16 thanks to a one timer blast from Carlson. Justin Schultz and Nicklas Backstrom had the assists.
The Caps weren’t done there. At 18:30 a hard shot from downtown by Chara went through for his first goal as a Capital. His teammates mobbed him right by the Caps bench and you could see how big Chara is compared to the rest of the guys. Schultz and Mike Sgarbossa had the helpers.
5-3 was the score after two periods with the Caps leading in shots 14-9. Second periods have always been a struggle for the Caps. This was their best middle period of the season.
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In the third the Caps put the game away with an empty net goal from Tom Wilson. The Caps were outshot 11-1 but Vitek Vanecek held it down with 27 saves for a .900 save percentage.