Nicklas Backstrom, who has been the Capitals’ playoff MVP to this point, won the game at 11:09 of overtime with his third clutch goal of the series. The Islanders lost the game by failing to score on three straight power plays in the second period. In a span of seven minutes, 12 seconds, the Islanders received six minutes of man-advantage. They wasted much of that time standing around, making far too many perimeter passes as the opportunities slipped through their fingers.
The Isles are the only team in the playoffs that hasn’t scored a power-play goal in the tournament yet. I’m sure Jack Capuano and his coaching staff will make adjustments to try to change that. I wish Capuano would put the third or fourth line on the ice for the power play, just to guarantee that his guys don’t give up so many chances to shoot. When John Tavares’ unit is on the ice, it seems to be waiting for the perfect play that never comes.
What made it especially infuriating for me (and I’m sure for other Islander fans as well) is that the Capitals’ Tom Wilson deserved to see his team give up a goal while he was in the penalty box. Wilson took two of those three penalties in the second period, and both of them were dangerous plays. The first penalty was for a knee-to-knee hit; the second was for leaving his feet to flatten 38-year-old Lubomir Visnovsky behind the net, knocking him out of the game. The Visnovsky hit might have drawn a five-minute major on another night, but the officiating crew tonight allowed much bad behavior to go unpunished.
The Islanders’ indecisive, standstill power play also failed to punish Wilson. And now the Isles may be without two of their best defensemen — Visnovsky and Travis Hamonic — in a series that has whittled down to a best-of-three. To win the series, they’ll have to take another game in Washington.
Sources: MSG Network, NHL.com
Filed April 21, 2015
