It wasn’t always nice, but the Islanders’ special teams answered the call Friday.
After being let down by both units in Game 1, the Islanders received significant contributions from both in Game 2 to come up with a 5-2 victory over the Capitals.
The Islanders did a better job of staying out of the box on Friday – after conceding a couple of power-play goals in Game 1 – but they had to kill two more important penalties in the third period, while taking a 3-point lead -2 protected. They kept the Capitals out of the net and took the momentum the rest of the way to extend their series lead to 2-0.
‘If you need a kill, you’re in a one-goal game and you have that [Capitals] power play that has so many weapons on it and you can hurt in so many ways, you need that big at those moments and our boys were big at that moment, ”said coach Barry Trotz. “Sometimes you look at the numbers and percentages, but if you need those kills, we did it, at a really important time in the third period when the other team was pressing.”
The Islanders’ power play also came off the cut. After going 0-for-3 in Game 1, they still struggled for the male advantage in Game 2, but got one big goal from Nick Leddy. The defender fired a shot from the point that came through on the Isles’ third power play of the night to ban the game early in the second period.
The bad blood has been left in the past.
Game 1 between the Islanders and Capitals was a physical affair that involved some fireworks after Anders Lee delivered a crushing blow to Nicklas Backstrom. But there was not much transfer in Game 2, except that Tom Wilson ran round to deliver some hits in the first period. Wilson recorded eight hits in the first 20 minutes, but calmed down when the Islanders got back to business.
Despite keeping the same lineup for Game 2 that he rolled out in Game 1, which left Johnny Boychuk, Ross Johnston and Tom Kuhnhackl under the healthy scratches.
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