Washington Capitals Report Card: Grading offense against Isles

The Washington Capitals got a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders that many said was their best game of the season. The win catapulted them into first place in the East Division with just under a half a season left of hockey. Our top 3 studs were easily, well you can read that and find out. In this piece we’ll grade the offense which was lights out.

The first period they were relatively quiet. The Caps were outshot by the Islanders 11-7. In the second period they finally broke through and lit the lamp. Evgeny Kuznetsov put a move on toward the net but couldn’t finish as his shot rang off the post. Thankfully T.J. Oshie was there to rebound it in for his seventh goal of the season.

The Caps doubled their lead when they went on the power play from none other than Alex Ovechkin, whose goal passed Phil Esposito for sixth place all time in NHL history.

The Caps would get another power play to begin the third period and Nicklas Backstrom would score 28 seconds in to tie Ovechkin for the team lead in goals this season. It’ll be fun watching these two race each other this season.

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Overall that was pretty much all the offense from the Caps. A quiet first period and a much more inspiring rest of the game. Shots were even at 22 when all was said and done.

Islanders head coach Barry Trotz was asked about Ovechkin’s historic goal after the game. He was asked if it was fitting and quite frankly he wishes he wasn’t there. Trotz said via JJ Regan of NBC Sports Washington:

"“I don’t know if it’s fitting. I wish I was not here, put it that way.”"

Trotz did acknowledge the greatness of Ovi and that he does cheer for him when the Islanders don’t play the Caps:

"“I do recognize his greatness and the milestones. I cheer for him, no question. Just not when he plays against us.”"

Grade A: The offense was firing and didn’t skip a beat despite playing in the second half of a back to back. We got to see Backstrom, Oshie and ultimately Ovechkin light up the scoresheet with Ovechkin’s goal being another historic one as he continues to climb up the ladder.

The Caps have won six in a row thanks to their outstanding offense and overall I think the team chemistry is starting to come around.