UNIONDALE, N.Y. — UNIONDALE, N.Y. | The Washington Capitals won their fourth straight game and sixth contest in seven on Tuesday, but there was little celebrating in the dressing room.
After squandering a two-goal lead, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin hooked up on an overtime goal to bail out the Caps in a 5-4 victory at Nassau Coliseum.
“We got lucky,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “You never [complain] about a win, but it sure doesn’t do anything for the coach there.”
Added Caps forward Boyd Gordon: “It was an ugly win. We let up for a bit, and they worked hard and came back on us. I think we were fortunate to get two points to be honest.”
Trailing 4-2 after 40 minutes, the Islanders rallied to steal a point. Defenseman Andy Sutton’s shot from the left point midway through the period hit Karl Alzner on its way past goaltender Brent Johnson, and Jon Sim forced overtime with 2:13 remaining.
Sim tipped in a point shot from Mark Streit seconds after a penalty to Tomas Fleischmann expired. The left wing now has 12 of his 58 goals against the Caps in his career - five more than he has against any other team.
In the extra session, Ovechkin thought he scored with about 50 seconds left - and then made sure of it later in the shift. His first shot hit the post, but moments later Backstrom intercepted a pass near the blue line and slipped a pass to Ovechkin for his second goal of the night and 19th of the year with 10.7 seconds remaining.
“We stopped playing in the third period,” said Ovechkin, who now has a franchise-record six overtime goals. “We didn’t want to go to the shootout because it is a lottery.”
Gordon gave the Caps a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Gordon, Donald Brashear and David Steckel put together a lengthy, hard-working shift in the Islanders’ zone and capitalized on a scrum around the net.
Gordon, who knocked the puck off the side of the net on the left side of goalie Joey MacDonald to avoid a whistle, then jammed the puck past the netminder on the opposite side for his second of the season.
“It was underneath his skate, but he didn’t have it completely covered,” Gordon said. “I took a couple whacks at it, and fortunately the ref didn’t blow the whistle. It was kind of a greasy goal, I guess.”
On a night full of interesting bounces, Washington’s lead expanded to two goals with another quirky tally at 14:18. Brooks Laich carried the puck toward the New York net and tried to maneuver around defenseman Mark Streit. He was stood up and lost control of the puck, but as it glided toward MacDonald, the goalie whiffed with a pokecheck attempt and it trickled between his legs.
It was the second marker in as many games for Laich after he had gone 10 games without one.
The Caps could have scored more; they dominated possession of the puck, and MacDonald appeared to be in the midst of a shaky evening. Instead, the Islanders surged in the third and earned a point even though they lost for the seventh straight game.
“You could feel it - you could feel that they were hanging around and hanging around,” Boudreau said. “It was going to come back to bite us. I don’t think we respected that team enough today.”
New York’s first two goals came on the power play with defenseman Sean Collins in the box. Doug Weight got New York on the board late in the first period with a shot from the right point that hit Caps defenseman Tom Poti’s stick on the way in.
Richard Park added another extra-man goal 14:32 into the second period. His shot from the top of the offensive zone also hit something en route, and it was made possible in part because Steckel had lost his stick earlier in the play.
After Park’s goal closed the gap to one, Ovechkin made it 4-2 on an assist from Alexander Semin. Backstrom hit Semin, who then whipped a behind-the-back pass from the right circle to the left, and Ovechkin scored at 16:35 of the middle period.
“We didn’t play our best game tonight,” Ovechkin said. “Yeah, we score lots of goals, but I didn’t think we showed our best game. We didn’t play with any energy.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.