Recap: Islanders 4, Capitals 3

Good goaltending, a perfect penalty kill and secondary scoring added up to two points on Tuesday night, as the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 at Barclays Center.
Andrew Ladd (two goals) and Anders Lee scored 43 seconds apart in the third period, while Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves, powering the Islanders to a third straight win. And it would have all been for not had the Islanders PK killed off two critical kills in the final 5:15 of the third period.

"A total team effort tonight," head coach Jack Capuano said. "Overall a good night, special teams, goaltending and five-on-five."

Secondary scoring was crucial for the Islanders on Tuesday, as leading scorers John Tavares and Josh Bailey were held off the scoresheet. Ladd's two-goal night helped fill the void - as the veteran winger posted up at the side of the net and deposited a pair of nice feeds from Thomas Hickey and Alan Quine. Ladd's goals were both timely, as his first gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead, while his second put the Isles back up 3-2 at 4:41 of the third period.
"I thought we played a pretty tight game and got some big goals at big times," Ladd said. "We answered back when they came back with that big second goal."

Ladd's goal answered an Alex Ovechkin tally early in the third, but Lee's goal - the eventual winner - gave the Islanders some breathing room. While Ladd is joining the ranks of Islanders who are heating up, Lee's been on fire for just over a month, netting 12 goals in his last 16 games. On Tuesday, Lee beat Braden Holtby on a breakaway, snapping a shot five hole at 5:24.
"I kind of got a lucky bounce in our zone and turned it into a break there," Lee said. "I got my head up and tried to see where the goalie was. I had a little bit of a five-hole opening."
But the Capitals didn't go quietly. Andre Burakovsky made it 4-3 at 13:05, as a fortuitous bounce off the heel of Jay Beagle's stick caromed to the open Caps forward. At 14:45 the Islanders took the first of two penalties down the stretch, but the shorthanded unit held firm. Halak played his part, stopping Alex Ovechkin from the left dot and came up big when the Capitals pulled Holtby for the extra attacker.

GAME SUMMARY - EVENT SUMMARY - PHOTO GALLERY

"It's something we take pride in as penalty killers," Cal Clutterbuck said. "It's a huge part of a team."
Halak was clutch late, but may have been at his best early, stopping a TJ Oshie breakaway right off the bat en route to 12 first period saves. After that, Clutterbuck and Justin Williams traded first period goals, as the teams took a 1-1 tie into the first intermission.

In the second, the Islanders reaffirmed their lead, as Thomas Hickey threaded a pass from the boards to Ladd at the far side of the crease, managing to miss Marcus Johansson, Holtby and John Carlson in front. Ladd didn't waste the effort, potting it at 14:03 of the second period.
Ladd was the recipient of another good pass through traffic on the Islanders third goal. Ladd dished up the puck from the goal line to Alan Quine in the high slot, but instead of shooting through traffic, Quine dished it right back to Ladd at the side of the net for the tip at 4:41.

"He's extremely underrated with his playmaking ability and his patience with the puck," Ladd said of Quine. "For a guy who hasn't played many games in the league that second goal you could see he waited for something to open up and put it on my tape. He's a guy with a pretty strong two-way game."
The Islanders third straight win came on the heels of a three-day break. The Islanders have two more games, the first on Thursday in Minnesota, before they begin a league-mandated "bye"week from January 1-5.