Caps Drop Isles, 7-3

On its recent trip through California, the Caps probably played well enough to accrue more than the two points they came up with in three games, but Washington scored just two goals on that trip, empty-netter from Lars Eller notwithstanding.

At Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday night, the Caps got a bit of a payback for that paucity of points out west. Although they didn't play as well as they're capable of playing, the Caps rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Islanders on Thursday in the front end of a home-and-home set of games between Washington and New York.

Washington put a crooked number on the board in each of the three periods, and managed to overcome a sluggish start to forge a one-goal lead after 20 minutes. Starting his fourth consecutive game, Caps goalie Philipp Grubauer made 35 stops to record his 11th victory of the season, and Washington's 40th.

"I just think we capitalized on some opportunities," says Caps coach Barry Trotz, "and I thought Grubi was really, really strong for us tonight. We were fortunate on a couple of the pucks. I thought we had some traffic, but they seemed to go in a little bit easy. Just because you've got people there, so that makes it tougher."

New York got the scoring started early in Thursday's game, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the third minute of the contest. The Caps didn't clear the zone when they had a chance to do so, and Isle defenseman Ryan Pulock kept it in at the point, putting it behind the Washington net for Tanner Fritz. Fritz spotted Brock Nelson driving the net and fed him perfectly. Nelson buried it from the slot to give New York the lead at 2:19 of the first.

Washington got that goal back just after the midpoint of the opening period. From behind the New York net, Caps winger Jakub Vrana surveyed and found Lars Eller with some time and space in the right circle. Eller snapped a wrist shot past Isles goalie Christopher Gibson to make it a 1-1 game at 10:32.

Eller's goal started off a flurry of three goals in just under two minutes. Just 57 seconds after the Caps knotted the score, Andre Burakovsky fed T.J. Oshie on a two-on-one rush, and the latter scored his first goal since Jan. 31 and just his second since Dec. 22 to give Washington a 2-1 lead.

That lead was short-lived. Exactly a minute after Oshie's goal, the Islanders answered back on a two-on-one rush of their own, Rookie sensation Matthew Barzal put the puck right on Andrew Ladd's stick, and Ladd beat Caps goalie Philipp Grubauer to make it a 2-2 game at 12:29 of the first.

Washington snuffed out an Islanders power play, then regained the lead late in the first frame.

Evgeny Kuznetsov skated into New York ice and curled off at the top of the left circle, leaving the puck for Dmitry Orlov. Orlov carried down low on the left side, then threaded a shot through Gibson from the bottom of the left circle, restoring Washington's lead for good at 17:17 of the first.

The Caps kept pouring it on the Islanders in the second period. On an offensive zone shift early in the middle period, the Caps pushed their lead to two goals.

After accepting a pass from partner Matt Niskanen, Washington blueliner Jakub Jerabek put a shot toward the net from the right point. The puck deflected off Isles defenseman Johnny Boychuk and off Burakovsky, who got credit for his ninth goal of the season at 3:12, pushing the Caps' lead to 4-2.

Grubauer preserved that two-goal cushion with a big shoulder stop on New York's Josh Bailey, and then he Caps added to their advantage once again, doing so on their first power play opportunity of the evening.

Towards the end of the man advantage, Orlov passed to Nicklas Backstrom in the right circle. Backstrom went down low on the right side to Kuznetsov, who in turn tried to go cross-crease, but the puck popped up and Backstrom alertly swatted it past Gibson at 10:22, ending the Isles' goaltender's night after he was dented for five goals on just a dozen shots.

Former Caps goalie Jaroslav Halak came on in relief at that point.

Grubauer thwarted a Casey Cizikas breakaway opportunity late in the frame, and the Caps goalie also kept the Isles off the board when New York got a gift power play late in the second period.

The Caps didn't have the puck much in the third period as the desperate Islanders tried in vain to climb back into the contest. By the time the Caps recorded their first shot on net of the third period at the 8:24 mark, New York had already teed up 17 shot tries in the third. Washington skaters got in the way of several of those shots, and the rest weren't very threatening.

John Carlson extended the Caps' lead to 6-2 with his career best 13th goal of the season at 15:41, but the Isles answered back on Pulock's point drive following a face-off win in the Washington end at 16:33, making it a 6-3 contest.

Isles coach Doug Weight elected to pull Halak in hopes of sparking some sort of late, magical rally, but instead Oshie was able to net his second of the game into a vacant Islanders cage to account for the 7-3 final score.

Just as Trotz didn't think his team played great in a 7-3 victory, Weight wasn't upset with his team's performance in a 7-3 loss.

"We played pretty well," says Weight. "We had some good chances. They do a great job of keeping you out of the goalie's eyes, and we've got to do a better job of that. But we played a good game. I know it was 7-3; I don't know what to tell you. I think the first probably seven or eight minutes were really good. We were taking it to them and Brock got a big goal."