Nikolay Kulemin scored the go-ahead goal with 9:27 left in the game as the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1, in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference first round series in what could be the final game at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale. The Islanders staved off elimination and forced a Game 7 on Monday night at the Verizon Center in Washington. 
Nick Leddy found Kulemin wide open in front of the net after he picked up a loose puck along the side boards. John Tavares was crunched along the boards by Alex Ovechkin and Karl Alzner in retaliation for the two Capitals that got laid out in front of the bench at the beginning of the shift.
“People were grabbing each other. There was a lot of stuff going on that shift, and I just saw the open space in front of the net and went there,” said Kulemin.
“I’ve never seen a play like that, playing 2-on-2-hockey. You have to keep your composure a little better, not double-coverage. You don’t plan for that stuff. It’s tough to swallow,” said Washington goaltender Braden Holtby.
Jay Beagle almost tied the game with 5:33 left in the game, but his shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced out. The shot went to replay in Toronto, which confirmed that it was no goal.
Cal Clutterbuck dispossessed Alex Ovechkin and scored into an empty Capitals net with 52.6 seconds left to cap off the game for the Islanders.
“It was great to win in this building. We don’t want it to be the last one. It’s been home to me my whole NHL career. It’s the best atmosphere to play in. They don’t really make them like this anymore,” said New York forward Matt Martin.
John Tavares drew first blood for the Islanders at 6:56 of the first period, taking a feed from Ryan Strome and going around John Carlson into the slot, beating Braden Holtby using both Carlson and Brock Nelson as screens.
John Carlson evened the scored just before the first intermission. The Islanders had committed three stick-related penalties in the first period. The Capitals finally converted on the third power play 5 seconds before the first intermission. Troy Brouwer collected a long pass at the blue line and shot after he skated in. Halak saved the shot, but Ovechkin collected the rebound and found Carlson at the point. Carlson walked in and beat Halak with a lot of traffic in front of the net.
Calvin de Haan was injured in Game 5, further depleting an already shorthanded defense corps, forcing the Islanders to give playoff debuts to Matt Donovan and Scott Mayfield from the AHL.
The Islanders are 0-for-13 on the power play in this series after going 0-for-1 in this game..
Halak made 38 saves on 39 shots for the Islanders. Holtby made 35 saves on 37 shots for the Capitals.
“Basically it was the season on the line for us. They came out hard and played well. We need the same Monday night. It’s going to be hard, but we all know why we’re here,” said Halak.
“They had some quality chances. Braden was pretty good. I thought that when we had some quality chances, Halak was pretty good. You had two pretty good goaltenders. It was just the desperation level of the Islanders that was just a little bit higher than ours. Now we are both desperate. It’s a winner-take-all situation,” said Washington head coach Barry Trotz.
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