Streak of OT losses ends on Ovechkin’s winner
There were three new faces in the lineup, but for a long while on Tuesday night their presence did not seem to be stopping a familiar, frustrating result for the Capitals.
In the first 5:28 alone, recent acquisitions Jason Arnott, Marco Sturm and Dennis Wideman all fired quality scoring chances on goal, yet none of those attempts went in. Their new teammates know the feeling all too well.
It took until the final 48 seconds for the Caps to finally break through against the New York Islanders. Brooks Laich slammed home a pass from Arnott with goalie Michal Neuvirth pulled for the extra attacker to tie the game. Then at 1:55 of overtime, Alex Ovechkin scored the game winner to secure a dramatic 2-1 victory for Washington.
“After [Laich] scored I just knew we were going to win this game no matter what,” said Neuvirth, who stopped 28 of 29 New York shots on goal to keep his team within striking distance.
| Caps notes |
| Loose Pucks blog » Caps Postgame – 2-1 overtime win vs. Islanders |
| » Until Brooks Laich scored with 48 seconds remaining Tuesday night, the Caps had not scored a goal at home in 178 minutes, 6 seconds. |
| » Washington’s last goal at Verizon Center was Alex Ovechkin‘s strike just 1:06 into the first period of a Feb. 12 loss to Los Angeles. The next home game was a shutout loss to the New York Rangers last Friday. |
| » Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov still has not recovered from a lower-body injury suffered Saturday. Todd Ford was recalled from AHL to serve as Michal Neuvirth‘s backup. |
It was the first win in a game that went past regulation for Washington since Nov. 28 against Carolina. The Caps had lost 10 of their last 11 overtime or shootout contests, including eight in a row. Five of those losses came during 4-on-4 play in overtime.
It wasn’t easy, though. Despite outshooting the Islanders 10-1 in the first 8:31 of the game, the Caps couldn’t convert and they eventually trailed 1-0 thanks to Matt Moulson’s second-period goal for New York. It stayed that way until late. Laich won a faceoff with Neuvirth already pulled, teammate Alex Semin won a battle along the boards and kept the puck in the offensive zone. Arnott sent it behind the net to Ovechkin, who found Arnott again, who then hit Laich. The deflated Islanders couldn’t recover in time to hold off Ovechkin in extra time. It was his 25th goal of the season.
“They missed the puck in our zone and I had full speed so it was kind of a pretty goal,” Ovechkin said. “I’ll take it.”
Washington improved to 34-20-10 and now has 78 points. It pulled to within two points of Pittsburgh for fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race and three points of Southeast Division leader Tampa Bay. The Caps beat the Islanders twice in the span of four days and next face the St. Louis Blues at home on Thursday night.
