The islanders were all brawn and not brains, but somehow finesse a win.
Unable to stay out of the penalty area and keep her head above physical play for much of the match, the Islanders won victoriously after three unanswered goals in the third period drove them to a 4-2 victory in Game 1 against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.
Under 2-1 at the start of the third, the Islanders – boosted by Jordan Eberle’s goal with less than two minutes left in the second period – came out of flight on the first shift and Anders Lee buried a rebound to banning the game by 51 seconds .It was the Islanders captain’s first point of the playoffs in 2020, after going pointless in the Florida play-in series.
Just as the Islanders found their groove to stay out of the coffin, Leo Komarov was called at 5:51 for high-sticking. But a nasty Brock Nelson turned the luck of the Islanders after he stole the puck in the Capitals zone and Josh Bailey found for a goal with short hands and the lead.
Anthony Beauvillier saved the Islanders’ third-period score – three goals in 7:55 – after putting a Bailey’s dish on the left post.
Semyon Varlamov converted 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Islanders had just two shots in the first period as they collected 15 of their 23 total penalty minutes. As the Islanders turned in and out of the penalty area, Washington capitalized on two of its seven-man advantages.
It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes that the Islanders started making the Capitals play their brand of hockey. And maybe it took the Islanders just to stay out of the penalty area after taking nine penalties through the first two periods.
Both the islanders and capitals came out of the gate like a band of heavy weights on grounds. The physique was called up by puck drop and escalated when Anders Lee put a hard shoulder in Niklas Backstrom. Capitals defender John Carlson went to Lee for the first of several consecutive rough penalties in the game.
At the next power play, a scrum broke out for the banks after Casey Cizikas was tied with Tom Wilson. Matt Martin then took an ill-advised penalty for cross-checking Ovechkin after the whistle. Wilson bailed out the Islanders and ignored the last 40 seconds of Washington’s power play after being called up for interference on Adam Pelech.
When both teams got the most of their punches, the game tempo picked up and led them to dangerous scoring chances. The Islanders’ best chance of the period came at 18:50 from the first after Nelson took Ovechkin’s puck and jailed Capitals defender Dmitry Orlov for a shot that went right.
The Capitals had to play the second and third periods without first-line center Backstrom, as he remained in the locker room. Both teams seemed to settle in midfield until Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby abused the puck and had to save back-to-back at 4:10 on Cizikas and Martin on the doorstep.
Martin was then fined seconds later for the second time for interference, giving Washington his fourth man-advantage of the game. Through a hefty bounce, TJ Oshie was able to capitalize and put the Caps at 5:27 of the second.
Shortly afterwards, Eberle was called up to hook to put the Islanders on the penalty spot for the fifth time. Traffic for Varlamov caused Oshie to pass the puck for his second goal at 10:18.
With less than two minutes left in midfield, Eberle was patient with the puck on the rush and twisted one right over Holtby’s glove to make it 2-1.
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