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Veterans Day victory over another Metro Division opponent: Capitals beat Islanders 4-1

By Chris Cerullo

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November 11, 2023 10:01 pm

The Washington Capitals traveled to Long Island to take on the New York Islanders on Saturday night. The Capitals were looking to avenge a shutout loss to the Islanders from just over a week ago and sweep a big, road back-to-back against Metropolitan Division opponents.

Alex Ovechkin broke his scoring drought with the game’s opening marker off a set faceoff play. Alexander Romanov was the beneficiary of a miscue behind the Capitals’ net and tied the game at one. Nic Dowd batted a rebound out of the air to give Washington their lead back and Aliaksei Protas would double that lead with a shot from the slot.

Ovi added an empty netter for the cherry on top.

Capitals beat Islanders 4-1!

  • The first half of the first period felt fine and the Capitals were on top but the second half was a bit of a disaster. The Islanders came out of the first twenty minutes with 14 five-on-five scoring chances and had the Capitals under siege for long stretches. The ice inside UBS Arena was also god awful.
  • Everyone please enjoy that the expensive Ryan Reaves experiment in Toronto has gotten off to a horrible start. Two more years on that contract after this one.
  • Praise be, Alex Ovechkin got on the board with his third goal of the season. Ovi had been scoarless for six-straight games and now sits just 69 goals from Wayne Gretzky. He later added his fourth of the campaign into an empty net. Let’s hope they come in bunches now for The Great Eight.

  • The start of the second period was not good at all. New York was doing whatever they wanted but the Capitals got to a TV timeout before the halfway mark of the frame with the game still tied and then responded very well from there. Two goals and good goaltending took the team into the third up two goals. You’ll take that every single day in the back half of a road back-to-back.
  • Goodness is it nice to have Nic Dowd back or what? His impact is so obvious every time that fourth line is on the ice and he really has dragged both Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn “into the fight” per se. That trio found another goal in this game. Stay healthy, Nic.
  • Really nice to see Aliaksei Protas grab his first goal of the season. He’s had a rough start to the year and hopefully that tally gives him some confidence and gets him back generating high-danger chances. Really sweet pass from Matthew Phillips to set that one up and good forechecking work from Connor McMichael. Enjoy your nuggets, folks.
  • The Capitals defensive depth is being challenged super hard right now with Martin Fehervary, Trevor van Riemsdyk, and Joel Edmundson all out with injury. I don’t think any of Alex Alexeyev, Lucas Johansen, or Hardy Haman Aktell are really thriving in their bigger roles. Not sure what the solution is there other than just hoping they get healthy quick and keep getting good goaltending.

  • The Capitals didn’t do much in the third period but the Islanders don’t have the offensive talent to be able to punish teams for sitting back. Given the fatigue factor, you’ll let the Capitals get away with one like this. They got smoked in shot attempts.
  • Hunter Shepard had an up-and-down start to his night with some big stops and some clear nerves early on. Can’t say I think Nick Jensen appreciated getting the puck fired into his skates out of nowhere and then that puck ending up in an open net seconds later. Shepard eventually settled down big time and finished with 38 saves in his second career NHL victory. Awesome stuff. His understudy in Hershey, Clay Stevenson, picked up a shutout in his own start on Saturday night for the Bears.
  • The Capitals have now jumped over the New Jersey Devils for third place in the Metro Division. They trail the Carolina Hurricanes for second by just two points and have two games in hand. Kinda nuts because I don’t think they’re exactly operating at their best just yet.

The Capitals will have a few days in between their next game which comes at home against the league-leading Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas is 12-2-1 to start their season.

Headline photo via @Jencapsfan74/X

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