Coming off a thrilling win on Tuesday, the Caps looked to get back on a winning streak after Saturday’s loss to Dallas. The day got off to an inauspicious start when the Capitals didn’t skate this morning, which is basically throwing in the towel. Washington indeed got off to a slow start with the Islanders taking the first six shots of the night. Later in the period, John Tavares put the moves on Nate Schmidt and Braden Holtby to open the period.

In the second, the Caps titled the ice like an hourglass, outshooting the Islanders 14-4. Alex Ovechkin tied the game up for the Caps, setup by a brilliant behind the net pass from first line center Evgeny Kuznetsov. Ovi added another less than two minutes later on the power play, this time assisted by the demoted and pathetic Nicklas Backstrom.

The Capitals continued to control play in the third, but couldn’t dent Thomas Greiss, winner of five of his last six, for an insurance goal. And sure enough, Frans Nielsen beat Braden Holtby with a minute and 44 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

J-Will with the slapper for the ballgame. Caps beat Isles 3-2 (OT)!

• For some reason, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz thought the second line, which scored both of Washington’s goals on Tuesday, needed breaking up, perhaps to jump start the first line or to make Twitter interesting on a Thursday night. Evgeny Kuznetsov did his typical behind the net funny business as Alex Ovechkin tapped it into the empty net. Ovechkin, though, also scored a goal playing with Nicklas Backstrom and the Capitals dominated the Isles so much at five-on-five it’s hard to make any definitive judgements. It’ll be interesting to see if Trotz sticks to this lineup Saturday against the Devils.
• Pat helpfully marked up this image to highlight where the game went wrong for the Islanders. It’s the part inside the circle.

s'pose that'll do, eh? pic.twitter.com/g3TlLGrrmq

— RMNB (@russianmachine) February 19, 2016

• Tom Wilson continues to piss off the Islanders. This game got chippy a few times thanks to #43 bit never devolved into violence. Wilson somehow delivered a late hit about 15 seconds into the game, which is a talent I guess.
• Alex Ovechkin extended his league lead in goals with his second multi-goal game in the last week. His has eight goals this month and 37 on the season. He had eight shots on goal at the midway point, 10 total, and one off the post in overtime.

#Caps Ovechkin looking to become first player to 4-peat as NHL goal-scoring leader since Wayne Gretzky (1981-1985) https://t.co/yqSX8ggJsd

— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) February 19, 2016

• Braden Holtby got the hook last time out in Dallas. He was fine tonight in limited work. There was nothing he could do on the Tavares goal, but he didn’t cover the post in time on the tying tally.

The widest of ties.

The Caps dominated play, despite New York’s point. A nice game for the boys in white and a nicer game for the weird looking guy wearing number eight. Back home on Saturday.