Two For Tuesday For Niskanen; Caps Beat Isles 4-2

Solid special teams, strong and clutch goaltending, sturdy defense and scoring from up and down the lineup - that's a formula every NHL coach is seeking every night. Washington had every element of that formula on Tuesday night in Brooklyn, and the result was a 4-2 win for the Capitals over the New York Islanders.

Matt Niskanen scored his first two goals of the season in the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie and giving the Caps their fifth straight win, matching the club's longest winning run of the season. Dating back to March of 2015, the Capitals have now won 28 straight games when they score at least one power-play goal and are perfect on the penalty kill as they were in Tuesday's game.

"We went through that little bit of a streak where our goaltending was good and our penalty killing was good," says Islanders coach Jack Capuano. "You're not going to give up two power-play goals and expect to win a game. We had to be better in that area."

The one thing Washington did not do in Tuesday's game was score the first goal.

Isles forward Cal Clutterbuck put a perfect head-manning pass on the stick of Brock Nelson, who entered Washington ice with time and space because of a mix-up at the Capitals' bench. Nelson snapped off a shot from the top of the right circle that nestled just under the crossbar, beating Caps goalie Braden Holtby high to the stick side. Nelson's goal gave the Isles a 1-0 lead at 9:32 of the first period.

The goal was the first five-on-five goal the Caps surrendered in a span of more than seven periods, dating back to late in the middle frame of last Wednesday's game against Boston.

Washington pulled even on a pretty speed/rush goal early in the second period. From his own blueline, Jakub Vrana sent an indirect pass ahead of Lars Eller, to space in the New York zone. Eller outraced Isles defenseman Johnny Boychuk to the puck, collecting it just below the left dot. Meanwhile, Brett Connolly was involved in a race of his own, trying to beat New York defenseman Thomas Hickey to the net. Eller threaded the puck to the net front, and Connolly chipped it past New York netminder Jaroslav Halak to make it a 1-1 game at 2:09 of the middle period.

"I'm just waiting to see what [Vrana] is going to do with it," says Connolly. "He makes a good play up to Lars. Automatically, you're trained to go to the net. That's where goals are scored in this league. You've got to go to the net, go to the hard areas and I was fortunate enough to get that one."

With old friend Jason Chimera in the penalty box for hi-sticking, the Caps grabbed the lead just ahead of the midpoint of the middle frame. Late in the Chimera minor, the Caps slowly regrouped in their own end of the ice before Evgeny Kuznetsov took control of the puck and gained speed as he carried through neutral ice. He lugged the puck behind the Isles net and curled back out the right side, feeding a late-arriving Jakub Vrana in the slot. Vrana's shot clicked off Justin Williams and beat Halak high, giving the Caps a 2-1 lead at 7:37 of the second.

"Kuzy had lots of speed there, skating around the net," says Vrana. "I just tried to get in that soft area in front of the net. He made a helluva play. I just shot it, and it went in off [Williams]. We'll take that."

The Islanders had nothing going on at all in the first half of the second; the Caps held them without a shot on net for more than 11 minutes at one point. But the Isles evened the game about three minutes after Williams gave Washington the lead. New York got some extra zone time when the Caps weren't able to make a clean exit from their own end of the ice, and Nikolay Kulemin tipped a Nick Leddy point shot past Holtby to make it a 2-2 game at 10:41.

Early in the third, the Caps regained the lead for good. After winning board battle in the left win corner of the New York zone, Marcus Johansson pushed the puck to Dmitry Orlov at the left point. Orlov went to Niskanen at the right point, and Niskanen, after creeping down just a bit into some open space, sent a blast bar-down to give the Caps a 3-2 lead at 1:34 of the third.

"Jojo made a heck of a play coming out of the corner with the puck," says Niskanen. "It's a tactic that we use sometimes to spread the zone by moving the puck low to high and then wide, [defenseman to defenseman].

"But that goal doesn't happen if there isn't traffic. I think [T.J. Oshie] passes in front of the goalie just as I'm shooting it. I'm sure Halak didn't see it until it was too late. There is a battle in the corner, and then you've got to win the puck and then win a race to the net, too, for that to happen. It was a good five-man effort on that one."

Holtby made a series of stellar stops to preserve Washington's one-goal lead, denying Josh Bailey's backhander from the top of the paint with 11:07 left, stopping Hickey and then John Tavares with 9:25 remaining, and thwarting Clutterbuck off the rush with 8:16 left.

"I felt pretty good right from the start," says Holtby. "I didn't really like the first goal, but other than that I felt like I was moving and seeing the puck pretty well.

"They're a team that always seems to push in the third against us, even more than most teams can. We know they have some good players and when it gets desperate at times, they're going to get a few chances. That's just my job, to be ready for them."

With 3:13 left in regulation, Daniel Winnik drew a tripping penalty on Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic, giving the Caps a golden opportunity to put up an insurance tally. Another Niskanen blast, this one from the left point through a heavy screen, found its way past Halak, giving the Caps a 4-2 lead with 1:58 remaining.

"A couple minutes left, they're going to start making a push," says Niskanen. "We create a break by forcing them into a situation where they take a penalty, and we play [the power play] a little safer with two [defensemen]. We maintain the puck, and it's a pretty simple shot that gives us a two-goal cushion."

That goal gave the Caps a two-game cushion, and also put a bow Washington's fifth straight win.

"We're getting contributions throughout the whole lineup and it makes life a little easier," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "Right off the bat, Kuzy's line, the first few shifts they were flying. Kuzy was skating and putting a lot of pressure on them.

"[Nicklas Backstrom's] line was doing their thing and had some good zone time, and Eller's line got us a big goal. [Jay] Beagle's line continues to play some good two-way hockey. It drew some timely penalties just because of work ethic and detail. I thought we got contributions from the back end. Holts made a couple of big saves when it was 3-2, and to me that sort of sealed the deal, once they didn't score there."