This loss was a missed opportunity for the Islanders. They led by two goals in the second period despite the fact they were being badly outplayed. The Capitals had Philipp Grubauer in goal because starter Braden Holtby was out with an illness. Holtby had played 73 games in the regular season, more than any other goalie in the NHL. Washington, a team that rarely plays its No. 2 goaltender, was starting a goalie who had been recalled from the minor leagues earlier in the day.
It was all set up for the Islanders to do something they haven’t done since the 1983 Stanley Cup Final: take a 2-0 lead in a playoff series. A win tonight, with the series moving to Nassau Coliseum for the next two games, would have made a sweep a realistic possibility.
But these are not the 1980s anymore. The NHL today is marked by parity, with no dominant team in the tournament. And the Capitals tied the series with a home-ice victory they richly deserved.
The Islanders led 1-0 early in the first when Cal Clutterbuck scored on a 2-on-1 break, one of the few real scoring chances they had in the period. The Caps spent most of the first 20 minutes in the Isles’ zone, a puck-possession domination illustrated by this stat: Washington did not block a single shot in the first period, while the Islanders blocked 15.
The trend continued in the second period. Washington seemed to be playing keep-away with the puck, but now their shots were starting to reach goalie Jaroslav Halak. The Islanders, who led the league in shots on goal during the season, were outshot 18-7 in the period. Ryan Strome and Kyle Okposo, beating Grubauer high as Clutterbuck did, sandwiched goals around Karl Alzner’s score to make it a 3-1 lead. But the Islanders’ attack was feeble the rest of the game. Alex Ovechkin, ending a string of seven straight playoff games without a goal, scored on a rebound to start a run of three unanswered Washington goals.
The Islanders were in a constant state of retreat. Alzner and Ovechkin both scored 5-on-5, but their goals had the appearance of power-play goals, each one resulting from sustained pressure that kept the Islanders pinned in their defensive zone. The tiring, scrambling Islanders even formed a box in front of their net as if killing a penalty. Coach Jack Capuano called his timeout, then chewed his players out at the bench. Apparently, they needed to be reminded that they weren’t short-handed.
Then in the third period, they really were short-handed. Strome took a dumb penalty, slashing in retaliation. Soon Nicklas Backstrom was skating through center ice 1-on-4, with all four Islanders penalty killers backing off as if they were afraid of him. Backstrom then gave the Islanders reason to be afraid, gunning a shot past Halak to tie the game.
The Caps’ comeback was capped moments after Nick Leddy failed to connect on a breakout pass to Frans Nielsen. The giveaway led to another Capitals flurry, and Jason Chimera knocked in a rebound to give Washington the lead. Turnovers in their own end in the third period have been a problem for the Islanders all season. This time, the error ensured that the better team would be the winner. Washington was clearly better, rallying around their inexperienced goalie, who needed to make just 18 saves to win his NHL playoff debut. The much busier Halak, meanwhile, finished with 31 saves.
I was disappointed, but not dismayed. Even championship teams go through highs and lows during the two-month marathon that is the road to the Stanley Cup. Last season, the Kings lost the first three games vs. San Jose, then won the next four — the 1975 Islanders are one of only three other NHL teams to come back from an 0-3 hole. The Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup Final against the Rangers, who had pulled off a comeback from a 1-3 deficit in the second round.
Now the Islanders are just getting started. The Old Barn will be rocking Sunday afternoon for Game 3. If the Isles are as listless then as they were tonight, then my disappointment — and worry — will become much greater.
Question for Game 3: Will Travis Hamonic return from his injury to bolster the Islanders’ defense?
Filed April 17, 2015
Sources: NHL.com, hockey-reference.com, MSG Network