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Islanders surprise Capitals for 4-3 overtime win
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Tomas Fleischmann would hang tough near the net, firing his second goal home but it wasn't enough in a Caps 3-2 loss. (AP photo)
In a game that was entertaning for both it's controlled and at times uncontrolled intensity,
the Islanders were like Buster Douglas coming in for the surprise haymaker against Mike Tyson and knocking the champ down.
Sure the Capitals had more talent, played decently for much of the game, and had a solid third period in which they fired 17 shots on the way toward Dwayne Roloson, but they could just never break through. Give Roloson a lot of credit for that as for the most part he was up to the task.
And with the Islanders sticking around to force overtime, John Taveras,( who is good, you can believe the hype) was able to swoop in behind the Capitals net and find Mark Streit rushing in on the slot. Streit then one-timed it past a shocked Jose Theodore as the Islanders took home a surprising 4-3 overtime victory against the Caps.
If you were to just judge the talent levels of both teams, one could surmise if one hadn’t seen the game that the Capitals let the Isles “off the hook.” This is only partially true, as the Islander victory was less a factor of Washington playing sloppy, and more a factor of Long Island outworking and fighting for every square inch of the ice as the Capitals attacked. “They work and they’re a good team,” surmised Boudreau. “They lost one out of the past six in regulatio and they got points in eight out of their past twelve games. If they don’t get injuries they’re gonna be a team that’s gonna be reckoned with in that division.”
The Good:
- Tomas Flesichmann: Remember when I wrote about how the Capitals were missing Fleischmann as a secondary scoring threat? Well we saw why that waas true, as the man nicknamed “flash” was true to his name all night long, as Tomas, despite playing in only one other game played at Mach 5 speed tonight, blazing down the ice on shifts, and at times making it hard for his line mates, Chris Clark and Keith Aucoin, to keep up with him. Besides his style of play, let’s also talk about the results as Flechmann had two goals, the first coming on a wrap-around play in which he simply beat Roloson back to the net after Dwayne tried playing the puck behind the net.
Just under eight minutes later, “Flash” had a second goal, this one guiding the Caps to a brief 3-2 2nd period lead. For a guy not known for going “Mike Knuble” near the net, Tomas dug in with the best of them near the net, nearly falling to the ice after being pushed by Steit in front of the crease, but holding his balance and firing the puck home to give the Capitals the lead. Afterward, Boudreau highly praised his game. “He’s just starting to get his legs. He’s going to be a great asset to have and I think he was one of the main reasons the power play was clicking like it was.” and after a Mike Green rebound from a shot came right to him,
- The Energy Level: Even though they lost, the Capitals played very well for a team that was coming off a back-to-back game and playing their third game in four days. The offense never slowed down as the Capitals got 40 shots on net, a season high. “I thought the pace of the game was very fast, especially compared to last night’s game. It was much quicker,” said Boudreau.
The Bad:
-Brendan Morrison and Nicklas Backstrom (1st and 2nd line centers) The Capitals did not get strong play from it’s top two forwards tonight. In honor of Halloween, Brendan Morrison took his turn as “The Invisable Man” firing just one puck on net, nary making a play on offense and winning only 6 faceoffs while losing 11 times. Outside of a couple burts and then disapearances from Mike Knuble, Morrison was part of a secon line that really wasn’t very strong.
Morrison’s lukewarm play was shared tonight by Nicklas Backstrom, who did not make many of his trademark brillant passes between two guy tonight. Backstrom did show a little more of a willingness to take shots, firing 4 of them on the night, but he also played sloopy at times, giving the puck away four times in the game.
In general, the first line was not great, and Boudreau afterwards cited the fact that they tried to be “too cute’ at times. Both Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin has great opportunites to shoot, a step ahead of the Islanders defense, but in this situation both of them would ellect to pass to the guy behind them streaking down from the middle of the ice. On both occasions the pass would be intercepted, and the chance would go for naught.
Mixed bag:
-Mike Green: It’s not yet Christmas but Mike Green gave a little early charity tonight as in front of the Capitals net he completely whiffed on a pass up ice. The opportunistic Frans Nielsen then took the puck behind Green and said ‘thank you very much,’ roofing the disc past Theo to give the Islanders a brief lead on a play that was completely Mike’s fault.
Let’s not be too hard on the guy. That’s how I feel and that’s how Bruce Boudreau feels. “You can’t get mad at that, that’s a mental mistake, that’s not a physical mistake. It could happen to anybody.”
And it would be a lot easier to get mad at Green if he didn’t have such a good game on offense, firing seven shots on net, and setting up both of the Capitals power plays, first on an assist to Ovechkin for the Capitals first goal of the game, and second on a shot from the blue line that Fleischmann was able to gobble up on the rebound and deposit into the back of the net.
-Jose Theodore: We’re giving Jose Theodore a bag of coal and gold tonight too as Jose was directly responsible for a unscreened first goal on a shot from Kyle Okposo that bounced off his equipment and into the back of the net. Theo also should have saved the Islanders 3rd goal that tied the game as Nielsen snapped a light wrist shot that somehow went between his leg pads to tie the game.
On the other hand, Jose had some real nice saves especially on deflections and shots in front of the net, and he also made his best save late in the game to keep the contest tied.
John Taveras on a backhand pass somehow connected in a crowded zone with Islanders forward Sean Bergenheim with just over five minutes left in the third. Bergenheim had time to try to find the corner, but Jose was up to the task, getting a glove on the puck and deflecting it away.
For more info: Check out the photo gallery at Capitals Outsider as Caps fans celebrate Halloween a day early.
Also: Not related to hockey but if it's D.C. sports, let's put it in. Click here to check out my interview and article on Charles Tomasch, the man who founded www.sellourteamdannyboy.com, to try to remove Dan Snyder from Redskins ownership. Charles Tomasch
More About:
Washington Capitals ·
NHL ·
New York Islanders ·
Jose Theodore ·
Mike Green ·
Nicklas Backstrom ·
Tomas Fleischmann ·
Mike Knuble ·
John Taveras ·
Frans Nielsen
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