Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the decisive goal of the shootout, giving the Washington Capitals a 1-0 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night at the Nassau Coliseum to secure the first-place finish in the Eastern Division.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots for her second shutout of the season and the third over of her career. Washington won 11 matches for the seventh time.
Shetan Varlamov, a 29-save in the teams’ last meeting on April 6, finished with 28 saves through overtime in this one. However, he scored two goals on three attempts in the shootout.
The Islanders fell one point behind the Capitals, tied for second place with Pittsburgh – which beat New Jersey 5–1. Boston is one and three points behind in the fourth.
Anthony Beauvillier defeated Samsonov with a backhand in the second round of the tiebreaker, with Nickels Backstrom scoring from the crossbar to tie it. Brock Nelson expressed disappointment at the islanders’ attempt in the third round ahead of Kuznetsov and defeated Varlamov at stickside to give the Capitals the victory.
The Islanders controlled the puck for the extra period, with each team managing a shot on goal. The Capitals were also given wide shots by Lars Eller.
The teams will meet again on Saturday at the Nassau Coliseum and on Tuesday in Washington.
After a Capitals turnover late in the third, Matthew Barzal skated, turned around Dmitry Orlov and skated over Samsonov, but picked up a forehand shot with a 4:15 remaining goal.
Varlamov saved the shaft of his stick about 2 minutes later on a shot by Orlov. TJ Oshie made two tries from the right at about 1:30 left, but (nothing was found in front of the Islanders Goldie).
Like the previous matchups of the teams, the game was scorched after two periods. The Islanders won 1-0 with Nelson in the previous meeting and scored the only goal of the game in the third round.
After being dismissed in the first period of this time, Washington tossed the second and scripted New York 14–7.
The Islanders outscored the Capitals 15-4 in a fast-paced and physical first period. Barzal had the Islanders’ best scoring chance as he skated alone over a breakup over Samsonov, but was denied by Capitol Goldie.
Washington defenseman Nick Janssen closed the ice path during the first period after an injury to his leg from a slap shot of Ryan Pullock. He later returned.
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