The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders entered Thursday’s matchup deadlocked with 62 standings points each. Whoever won would end up in first place in the East Division. With such huge stakes, both teams played it tight during the actual game, and literally, no one scored in regulation or overtime, forcing a shootout to decide a winner.
After TJ Oshie was stopped by Isles goaltender Semyon Varlamov, Nicklas Backstrom, taking Jakub Vrana’s old spot, scored in the second round and Evgeny Kuznetsov clinched the win with a shot to the short side of the net.
Kuzy’s goal gave the Capitals a rare 1-0 shootout victory. Both goalies, Varlamov and Ilya Samsonov, earned a shutout for their efforts.
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Kuzy’s game-winner was his 19th career shootout goal and his sixth career game-deciding shootout goal.
𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝 pic.twitter.com/eoVM3hblAj
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 23, 2021
“The shootout is a lottery,” Kuznetsov said after the game. “I went in there and fake it. I got an open corner.”
He added, “Both goalies. So proud for Russian goalies. They played unbelievable. That’s a good rivalry.”
With the win, the Washington Capitals (64) now lead the East Division by one point over the New York Islanders (63) and Pittsburgh Penguins (63). pic.twitter.com/5RiG8r2d6q
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 23, 2021
In the shootout, Backstrom also scored his 28th skills competition goal, the second most in Capitals history.
a silky swede finish pic.twitter.com/G1JP6YsBJ4
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 23, 2021
The only player to have more is Alex Ovechkin with 34.
RMNB Coverage of Caps at Isles
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
