New York Islanders frustrated Capitals to open the lead of 2-0 series


The Washington Capitals were aiming to deliver an emphatic counterpoint after blowing up a lead in the third period to lose Game 1. Although the recent Cup champions started Game 2 as they might get their wish, the New York Islanders withheld early pressure and method chipped away at the Capitals’ mind to win Game 2, 5-2.

The game was closer than that would suggest scoring and low-inflated scores, but the Islanders generally put a masterclass on the Trotz Theory of Hockey.

Dominant? Not exactly the word, not with its limited level of high-end talent (and my limited vocabulary). But methodical, territorial, strategic, resilient and ultimately complete – delicious – frustrating for the enemies that Barry Trotz once had on her side. The Islands followed their recipe for a ‘T’ en route to taking a 2-0 series lead.

It is now up to the capitals to figure out a different approach. Which, you would expect a compelling team to do that. And of course, they famously announced an opening of the opening 0-2 series the year they won it all.

So it will be fascinating to see where this series goes next. This is an early year (the two most recent Cup champions are each 0-2 down in their series after uninspiring round-robin play), and all is not known.

Except how Trotz wants his troops deployed. That is fairly familiar to anyone involved in this series.

[NHL Game Center | Game Summary | Event Summary]

First period: difficult start, promised recovery

The capitals first came on board by hitting on a suitable bounce. A rim-dump took a crazy bounce from the base of the corner to get through Scott Mayfield’s feet, taking Casey Cizikas by surprise. Alex Ovechkin came with speed, pulled away from Cizikas with the puck and slid a backhand through Semyon Varlamov.

It all happened so fast, and just 56 seconds into the game. Varlamov sat deep in his net. It was … not a nice finish.

With teams at 4-on-4, the Islanders soon had a good chance of an equalizer when the capitals took too many men penalty. (Math, paradoxically, it gets even harder as you go from 5-on-5 to 4-on-4.) The Islands did not record an official shot at that power play, but did set some good looks for Jordan Eberle and Anthony Beauvillier, whose shots did not reach the Braden Holtby.

After this, the capitals tried again to build up their good opening, but the Islands gradually found their game and got better from the game for the second half of the period.

Second period: things happen quickly

The islanders stayed where they left off to begin the second period. An early penalty with high stick put the Islands on the power play, giving Nick Leddy the chance to re-enter himself.

Leddy’s shot from the spot tied it at 1-1 at 2:56. Anthony Beauvillier’s second assist on goal made him the first Icelander to start the playoffs with six straight games since Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier during the dynasty.

Just two minutes later, the fourth line put in a strong shift, resulting in a 2-1 lead. Cal Clutterbuck was stopped on a prime chance, but shortly thereafter Matt Martin deflected Scott Mayfield’s pass from the right wing.

The Islanders flew, and continued to control the game with the lead. But then Leo Komarov happened.

The stone-handed disturbance hit the post on a sweet, eminently burly breeze from Derick Brassard. This led to the Capitals’ first continuous offensive zone possession in a while, where they refurbished things. Alex Ovechkin tipped a point shot from Brenden Dillon, which allowed all sorts of time to turn up, pause and shift time for Ovechkin’s drive-by.

But, man, this just feels different. Too strange. If you thought the good islands of the islands were ruined, well 15 seconds later they were ahead again. I let the dog out to curse the bandage, I came back into the room to see that the lead had been restored.

While I was learning, the bad decision of Jakub Vrana on the offensive blueline made a break for Brock Nelson, who did his cool-and-calm routine in the random Holtby stick side.

A really stupid Garnet Hathaway check from Matt Greene gave the Islanders a chance to extend the lead, but the power play came low, with Leddy another chance on his old sidewalk. It came back late in the period to another capital too many men.

That’s where things stood at the end of the second period, the Islands 3-2, but suffered the fate by not paying a running penalty book because the capitals still had a man advantage.

Third period: bow to the PP, then put it away

The capitals started the third with a dominant pair of shifts. They hammered into the islanders and came in waves. Evgeny Kuznetsov walked through the defense to give his team the lead with a shot from over on the left. The pass would have made a sure goal if it had been connected, but it was far from goal. Maybe that’s the kind of bad accuracy that leads you to distrust in your backhand.

Then came the Capitals’ inexplicable chance, on a soft call against Ryan Pulock after controlling Richard Panik in open ice. But what followed was perhaps the Isles’ best penalty kick of the playoffs. Anticipation, disturbance, clear. Repeat.

The Capitals got their next required play requirement for minimal distribution after Andy Greene Kuznetsov’s stick helped on a rush through the lock. That power play was performed much better by the Caps, although it did not produce any official shots. That stat is in part because Ovechkin technically, no, did not take this opportunity:

That Caps power game ended with a tired but opportunistic Nelson and Josh Bailey trying to hit an equally tough Ovechkin as the lone “defender”. But Ovechkin got a stick on Bailey’s backhand trying to end the threat.

The islanders did their Trotskyite business and left the capitals frustrated at equal power. A particularly disturbing shift by Komarov meant that the Caps had to work overtime just to get the puck back behind their own goal line.

That eventually led to a golden opportunity for Casey Cizikas to get an insurance goal from the door, but Holtby closed his arm to make the save tight.

However, the islanders just kept working the Caps low. Ovechkin spent a good 10 seconds standing in his own slot and waiting for the field battles below his goal line to finish so that the Cpas could counterattack. But the islands would not be able to do that. (Seriously, they would not. Let it happen. Check out this clip h / t commentator dl2316)

Eventually, JG Pageau’s just fell off a stick and then off Cal Clutterbuck’s arm to defeat Holtby and complete the deflation.

Anders Lee then added an empty net of center ice. For good size.

Other things

  • Adam Pelech had another effective, quiet but also very physical game. TJ Oshie controlled a lot, Wilson tried to touch everything, Hathaway did his dirtiest best. It was fun to give Pelech a goal that often paid off, even if just by making Capitalscheckers feel the power of their own efforts.

  • Talking about the physical game: As mentioned above, the heavy blow went through from the first game. But it is clear that the capitals do not come into the minds of the islanders. Matt Martin took the only penalty by the Islanders’ traditional physical boys, and that was an unsportsmanlike move to Hathaway’s control from behind on Greene that gave the refs coverage to give Hathaway four minutes. Among many other facets, this is the rigid mindset and culture that Trotz sought to install when he arrived, and it is a noticeable contrast to his happier predecessors.
  • Speaking of Pelech: Andy Greene was hired to provide a solid emergency replacement when Pelech went down, for what looked like that pre-pandemic time like the rest of the season. Yada yada yada, Pelech is back and in fine form, and Greene is doing great as an upgrade over the 2020 version of Johnny Boychuk.
  • Varlamov had a pretty strong match. I can not say that I have full confidence in ‘game-saver’ in him, but he can definitely give them every game a chance, and he certainly has a better series than his opponent.
  • I think each of us said it a lot in these reviews, but man, MAN it’s fun to have four strong centers. Think of these nights as the trade as contract price for Pageau is raised in the coming years.
  • Like I see Patrick Marleau in a Penguins uniform, every time I hear Ilya Kovalchuk’s name, I instinctively speak out “What? Oh … that’s right, he’s there now.” He laughed an unremarkable 8 : 16.

Next

The Islanders will be the ‘home team’ team for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon, which is, of course, a pretty pivotal big deal.