In Washington, DC, Ilya Samsonov made 21 sav
es as the Capitals defeated the New York Islanders 3-1, on Tuesday night.
“The first 20 minutes we relied too much on our goaltender, [but] the last 40 we were really good,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said. “The second period I thought we were excellent, and we kept battling away in the third.
“It was a tough stretch of [three] games [in five days] on the road and to come home for the one back to back at home here was challenging, [but] I thought our guys responded really good.”
The Islanders’ Mathew Barzal was benched in the final frame for a bad penalty that led to a goal.
“He’s leading our team in penalties right now,” New York’s head coach Barry Trotz said. “‘Barzy’ should not lead our team [in penalties]. I didn’t like the penalty and I didn’t like the shift after that. I thought the response was, ‘Well I’ve got to be dynamite and see if I can get this tied up.’ … Yeah, it absolutely was a message. He’s got to fight through all that stuff.”
The loss snapped a nine-game win streak the Isles were running.
“We’re not really going to change our mentality,” New York’s Josh Bailey said. “Get ready for the next one (home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday) and just focus on that.”
Alex Ovechkin scored number 718 in the second period to give the Caps a 2-0 lead.
“It doesn’t matter which — one-timer, wrist shot, redirect — a goal is a goal,” Ovechkin said. “It’s always a nice feeling to get it. … Great job by ‘Nicky’ and [Justin Schultz] to move the puck past, and for me I just have to hit the net. Finally.”
T.J. Oshie scored in the middle frame as well to open the scoring i the game and a 1-0 lead.
“Just quickly as we were heading out to the ice, we just mentioned how big it would be to that power play to be ready to execute right off the bat and that was really quick, really well done, and it was important,” Laviolette said. “At 2-0, that next goal, I feel like in a two-goal game that next goal is always a big goal and for it to go our way was important.”
Nicklas Backstrom pushed the Caps’ lead to 3-0 with a strike 28 seconds into the third period before the Isles found the back of the net.
Oliver Wahlstrom picked up a power-play goal early in the final frame, but it was too little too late.
“Samsonov played a really good game,” Wahlstrom said. “You can see he’s really good at his angles and he’s a big goalie, so it was tough to get one by him today. He played a really good game.”
Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves in the loss.
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