In Washington DC Friday, the Capitals used the New York Islanders to add some clearance in their race for the Metropolitan Division lead with a 6-3 win.
Braden Holtby made 22 saves in picking up the win.
Holtby made his first start in 10 days.
“It felt a lot better,” Holtby said. “Not that I was feeling horrible before, but I felt very fresh. It was like anything, the week after the holiday or something, you come back a little refreshed.”
T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Matt Niskanen, Alex Chiasson, and Jakub Vrana struck for the Caps.
Washington swept the home-and-home set after beating the Isles in Brooklyn Thursday night.
“We had a feeling they were going to come out hard after [losing Thursday],” Oshie said. “We didn’t want to get too full of ourselves or too happy. We still want to put ourselves in the best position we can for the postseason.”
John Tavares, Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored
“It’s been a rough go for a few weeks here,” Tavares said. “We’re trying to build on some good things and play at a high level … a few too many mistakes. I know the commit is there and the work ethic is there. It’s frustrating that we’re not able to put it all together.”
Lars Eller scored an empty netter late to seal for the Caps.
[WATCH: All Islanders vs. Capitals highlights]
Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves in taking the loss.
“You can’t sit in the box against that team. We lost two guys. We battled. It wasn’t as hard as we wanted to play in the first, but we took three penalties and guys battled physically, they worked hard. They’ll probably say it was an easy game, but we worked hard,” Islanders head coach Doug Weight said after the game.
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