The Washington Capitals were without Alex Ovechkin. Despite this adversity as the captain is day to day with a lower body injury, the Caps earned an impressive 6-3 win over the New York Islanders as everyone else stepped up.
The Caps struck first early on. Entering the zone, Nick Jensen fed Garnet Hathaway who sniped it in for his fifth goal of the season at 2:33. It came from Ovi’s office at the right face off circle.
They wasted no time doubling their lead. At 10:55, Anthony Mantha dumped the puck down low to Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom found T.J. Oshie beautifully for his 17th goal of the season.
The Islanders got on the board with a goal from Anthony Beauvillier at 14:28. 2-1 was the score after the opening 20. The Caps had the edge in shots 13-11.
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The Caps got a power play opportunity in the second but the Islanders quickly turned it around and scored a shorthanded goal thanks to Adam Pelech at 7:37. It made things a little stressful but the Caps would answer.
The other podcast bro, Nic Dowd would spin around and go top shelf for his ninth goal of the year at 12:21. Breden Dillon and Trevor van Riemsdyk had the helpers.
The fourth line and the second line scored. What about the top line that adjusts to life without Ovechkin? Say hello to top line Daniel Sprong.
Gliding down the ice toward the goal, Evgeny Kuznetsov backhanded it to Sprong for the slam dunk for his eighth goal of the season at 14:46. Dillon had the secondary assist.
The Isles would get one back at 17:12 with a goal from Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the power play. 4-3 was the score after 40 with the Isles holding the edge in shots in the middle period 8-7.
At 7:35, Kuznetsov went from end to end and sniped it home for his ninth goal of the season to make it 5-3 and give us all half off Papa John’s pizza.
At 14:43 Kuznetsov won a face off and the puck went to Tom Wilson. Wilson fed it to Sprong who banked it in for his ninth of the season. What a game Sprong was having on the top line.
6-3 would be the final score in Zdeno Chara’s 1,600th NHL game. The Caps led in shots 10-5 in the third and 30-24 overall. After recording a shoutout the other night, Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves for the win.
The Caps and Islanders meet again and this game will be fun as it will be in front of diehard Capitals fans for the first time this season at Capital One Arena. That game is on Tuesday and we can’t wait.