Caps Aim to Build on Game 4 Improvements

August 20 at New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto

Time: 8 p.m.

TV: NBCSW

Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, 94.7 FM The Drive

Washington Capitals

New York Islanders

Game 5, Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series, Islanders lead 3-1

After a dismal start to Game 4 that left them and their playoff fortunes hanging by a thread heading into the second period of the do-or-die game, the Capitals found the higher level of hockey they've been seeking over the final 40 minutes of the contest. The result was a 3-2 Washington win, its first of the series. That victory buys the Caps a few more days in the bubble; they now face another must-win contest in Thursday's Game 5.

Down 2-0 and on the penalty kill when the second period got underway, the Caps got an early boost went Evgeny Kuznetsov halved the New York lead with a dazzling individual effort during a stretch of 4-vs-4 hockey. Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play less than two minutes later to square the score, and Ovechkin supplied the game-winner on an odd-man break early in the third, his second two-goal effort in the series.

"You've got to give them credit," said Isles defenseman of the Caps Nick Leddy after the game. "They played a good game. But I also think we didn't play our best game. We kind of gave them life at certain times of the game, and they took that momentum and ran. So you've got to give them a little credit, but at the end of the day we know we have a lot better."

Ovechkin's third-period goal gave the Caps their first lead in a game since early in Game 2. This time, the Caps were able to hold that lead. In addition to playing more in the Islanders' end and wearing down the New York defense, Washington was able to tighten up in its own end after the middle of the first frame. As a result, the Caps were able to dominate the Islanders in terms of both territory and possession at 5-on-5 over the final 40 minutes of Game 4.

"Defensively, I think we tightened up a little bit more structurally," says Caps defenseman Nick Jensen. "Everyone's kind of playing as a five-man unit last game, and then when you do that, you see how frustrated they can get, and it translates into offense. So the better defense you play, the more offense we get. You saw in the second period there when we kind of had them in the zone all the time.

"That's the kind of way we want to play the game against these guys. So we've got to keep maintaining that good structural defense, everyone playing together, everyone doing their roles in the [defensive] zone, and it will lead to a lot more offense, and we got guys that I know can put the puck in the back of the net."

While the Caps do have guys who can put the puck in the back of the net, some secondary scoring would be welcome as the Caps continue to fight for their playoff lives in Game 5. Four games into this series, only three different Caps have been able to light the lamp. Ovechkin has four goals, and Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie have two apiece.

"It's very important, obviously," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson of the need for secondary scoring. "When you come into the playoffs, you plan on a long run and you plan on depth playing a role, and different guys chipping in. Speaking for myself, I've had some chances, and obviously you want to put it in the back of the net. I think there are guys in our room that are going to try and work through it here, and hopefully chip in and help the team win.

"But that being said, at this time of year maybe if you aren't scoring goals, you know you've got to do the little things. You've got to do maybe different things to help the team win. We're working on our 5-on-5, we saw glimpses of it taking over, and I think if as a team we play the right way, you're going to start getting production from every line.

"Obviously, [Ovechkin] had a great game, and that's what leaders do and superstars do, they step up when need be. Going forward here, we're going to need everybody and that's what it takes."

Given that Washington spent much of the last two periods of Game 4 establishing a brand of hockey that had been missing until that point of the series, the Islanders will also be looking for a renewed focus in their own end.

"I think there were times when there was a puck battle or something like that, those 50/50 pucks and we just didn't come out with them enough to start to turn the tide," said Isles captain Anders Lee in the aftermath of Game 4. "It put us behind. When you're chasing the puck a little bit and they were able to roll over [their lines] a couple times there, it kills the clock and it puts us in a tough position when you're down a goal.

"It's one of those things that we go out there and try to do every time every night, and I don't think we executed that as well as we needed to tonight. It's a tight game, it's a one-goal game. But we've got to find a way to get some of that possession back and try to create something out of something. Halfway through the game, we were not playing our best, but we still had a shot there at the end."

As dominating as the Isles have looked for most of the series, the Caps are a Jakub Vrana breakaway - in overtime of Game 3 - away from being all even in the series at this point, and 87 percent of the series has been played with the score tied or with one team or the other leading by only a single goal.

"I'm not going to take anything away from the way they played," says Islanders coach Barry Trotz. "They played very, very well. They played a pretty complete game. But we didn't respond enough, so we've just got to respond next game. There are going to be changes of momentum in the playoffs - shift-to-shift, game to game, period to period - it all comes in different ways in how you respond, and I didn't think we responded very well today, like I would like to see us."