John Tavares scored 15 seconds into overtime to give the New York Islanders a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first round series at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale. The Islanders now have a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 4 on Long Island Tuesday night.
Tavares won the opening faceoff in overtime. Johnny Boychuk’s initial shot was saved by Braden Holtby, who steered the rebound away to the other side. John Carlson then turned the puck over to Nick Leddy. Both Brooks Orpik and Nikolay Kulemin got their stick on Leddy’s ensuing shot, which was also stopped by Holtby. Tavares pounced on the rebound from a tight angle. 
“I had some chances. I had one early that I don’t know how it didn’t go in. I just tried to stay with it. It was a tight game. I just wanted to get to the net and I finally got rewarded,” said Tavares.
“It happened pretty quick, obviously. Another rebound and it’s in the net. We need to start off an overtime in a more defensive way. It’s something we need to learn from,” said Holtby.
“91 [Tavares] was 91. He did a lot of good things for us not only on the ice but on the bench too when they made the push. He has been there all year for us and it was no different tonight,” said New York head coach Jack Capuano.
The Capitals opened the third period pressing for an equalizer. The Capitals took 11 shots at Jaroslav Halak in the period. With Alex Ovechkin tying up traffic in front of the net, Nicklas Backstrom was able to beat Halak off the crossbar from the top of the right circle and knot the game with 6:06 left in regulation.
The Islanders put intense pressure on the Capitals net for the first two periods, outshooting them 33-13. They finally broke through when Lubomir Visnovsky’s shot from the point caromed off Kyle Okposo’s leg at 12:37 of the second period. Visnovsky had just returned to the game after leaving because of a hit he took from Troy Brouwer.
Holtby made 40 saves on 42 shots for the Capitals, while Halak saved 24 out of 25 shots for the Islanders. Holtby made his return to the series after missing Game 2 in Washington due to an illness. “He was really good. He was square to the puck. They were putting pucks from in everywhere. He responded really well. Looked good, looked sharp,” said Washington head coach Barry Trotz.
The Islanders penalty kill held the Capitals’ top-rated power play 0-for-3 for the game. Johnny Boychuk in particular put on an inspired performance matching up against NHL-leading goalscorer Alex Ovechkin, including a sequence on a power play before the second intermission where he blocked three shots and poke-checked the puck away when he was beaten by Ovechkin.
Tavares’s goal was the first overtime goal that the Islanders scored in the playoffs since David Volek’s goal that won Game 7 of the 1993 Patrick Division finals against the Penguins.
”Tough one to swallow right now. But playoffs is all about having a short memory and make sure we’re a lot better next game,” said Holtby.
”We spent way too much time in our own end. We’ll pout about the loss for an hour and then let it go,” said Trotz.
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