Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Caps Squeak Out Of Long Island

Capitals 5, Islanders 4 OT
Scoresheet - Wash Post

One could say in the last few games that Alex Ovechkin has scored in, his goals were no considered clutch. No one could consider that now. The Caps blew three 2 goal leads as the Islanders pressured to tie the game pushing it to overtime where Ovi scored the game winner with a mere 11 seconds left in the extra period.

It started off pretty good with some much needed secondary scoring. Boyd Gordon stuffed a goal for only his second of the year. Brooks Laich had a pass go a wry that ended up in the net anyway when Joey MacDonald tried to stop it with his stick and snuck in through his five hole. Milan Jurcina added a goal and Ovechkin tallied the last two including the game winner.

The Caps seemed to be in control of the entire game, but the Islanders just kept hanging around. The Isles were able to cut off the Capitals' break out. The Caps just couldn't clear their zone cleanly all night, and those turnovers finally bit them in the butt. The Caps were ahead 2-0 to see the Islanders cut it to 2-1, then cut a two goal lead again for 3-2 and 4-3 finally getting the game tying goal off of Cap killer Jon Sim pushing the game to overtime.

It may have been a good loss for the Islanders and a bad win for the Capitals. The Caps had the win and let the Islanders out work them. For the Islanders it was quite the comeback. It would have been nicer to get the win in overtime.

Brent Johnson played really well and deserved better than 4 goals against. The Caps penalty kill had some trouble keeping the Isles at bay, while their power play was stagnated going 0 for 3. Johnny did have a couple of beauty stops keeping the Caps from losing total control.

The schedule does not get any easy for the Capitals. They head home for a game with St. Louis before hitting the road to play both Philadelphia and New York Rangers. Two teams that will be unforgiving to the Caps. Hopefully they can shore up the break out.

Highlights by NHL.com:

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