The New York Islanders come into the Verizon Center looking to avenge a 3-2 overtime loss to the Capitals just six nights ago in Nassau Coliseum. Making his first trip to the Verizon Center is 19-year old John Tavares. The 2009 No. 1 overall draft choice is second on the team with points and goals scored. The Capitals will also welcome a familiar face back to the rink when Brendan Witt hits the ice. Witt spent 10 seasons in Washington from 1995-2006. He was traded to the Nashville Predators in the second half of the 2006 season for Kris Beech and the Predators’ first round selection, which the Capitals used to select goaltender Semyon Varlomov.

1st Period Overview:

Not surprisingly the Capitals struck first with a goal from none other than Alexander Ovechkin, who is on pace for a third straight MVP season. The Capitals did a great job getting themselves out of jams by clearing the puck from behind their own net to across the rink on several occassions. That was until the Islanders were able to capitalize off of that pressure they forced and retaliated with a goal by Kyle Okposo (his third on the season) with an assist coming from Witt.

Goals: NY – 1 WAS – 1
Shots: NY – 11 WAS – 9
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 1
Hits: NY – 9 WAS – 4

2nd Period Overview:

The second period was a tale of two scorers. There was not much defense to be had, especially in the final minutes. The Islanders struck first with a goal from Frans Nielson to go up 2-1, Tomas Fleischmann, who made his season debut last night against the Thrashers after missing the start of the season with deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot) in his leg, delivered his first two goals of the season to give the Caps their second lead of the night at 3-2. His second came with a little over three minutes to go. Just over one minute later, Nielson closed out the period with his second goal of the season as well with 2:10 remaining to tie it up at 3.

Goals: NY – 2 WAS – 2
Shots: NY – 9 WAS – 13
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 1
Hits: NY – 2 WAS – 9

3rd Period Overview:

The Capitals spent most of their time as they did in the first period, trying to clear traffic out from goaltender Jose Theodore’s way. This period was a battle of defenses. The contest ended in regulation as it did on Satruday night with a tied score headed into overtime.

Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Shots: NY – 8 WAS – 17
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Hits: NY – 8 WAS – 6

Overtime Overview:

The Islanders earned their first victory over the Capitals since February 2008 in the same fashion the Capitals earned their win last win against the Isles Saturday night; in the first minute of overtime. This time, Mark Streit is the hero of the night for New York, who shocked the crowd by taking advantage of a puck-handling error by Capitals defenseman Mike Green just 0:53 into overtime.

Goals: NY – 1 WAS – 0
Shots: NY – 2 WAS – 0
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Hits: NY – 0 WAS – 0

Tom Poti – Postgame Interview

Tomas Fleischmann – Postgame Interview

Bruce Boudreau – Postgame Presser

It didn’t look good for the Red, White and Blue early in the contest. Just 50 seconds into the game, Ryan Suter put one in the back of the net, beating Jose Theodore on a wrister from just inside the blue line.

Then, about seven minutes later, all hell started to break loose. It started when Jordin Tootoo leveled Donald Brashear along the side boards. Brashear hit Tootoo, and then Matt Bradley took a run at him. At the 12:27 mark, Brashear went after Wade Belak and the two dropped the gloves. The two went toe-to-toe for a few seconds, and then for the first time I can remember since Brash joined the Capitals, he took a left to the chin and crumpled to the ice. Brash left the game with a sprained knee suffered during his collapse.

Three seconds later, Matt Bradley and Jordin Tootoo threw down just after the face-off to start play after the Brash-Belak bout. This one didn’t end much better for the Caps. Brads sustained a cut over his nose from a Tootoo head… or is it helmet butt. The right winger left the ice in a bloody mess.

At the end of the first period, the Caps found themselves down 3-0 — one on the score sheet and two in the fight card. It didn’t help that the Pred’s netminder Dan Ellis was standing on his head and Washington continued the pattern of missing the net or hitting a defender on every other shot that has contributed mightily to their recent skid.

The second period started out slow, but after the first minute or so, they started to get it together. Around the 4 minute mark, Wade Belak decided 1 5-minute major for fighting wasn’t enough, as he took on Caps big man John Erskine. This time, Erskine held his own (only his second fight of the entire season), fighting to a draw. This ended the boxing portion of the evening, and even though the Caps found themselves short-staffed and holding a record of 0-2-1 after their three bouts, the team really seemed to pull together after that.

Ellis continued his stellar play, but Backstrom put Washington on the score sheet late in the second with a beautiful follow-up on the rebound in front. The play started when Backstrom and Viktor Kozlov skated down the right side, while Ovechkin streaked down the left. Kozlov pulled up at the top of the circle and fired a beautiful cross-ice pass to Ovie, who had pulled up at the top of the slot on the left. While this was happening, Backstrom continued driving to the front of the net. Ovie fired a wrister, and Ellis gave up the rebound right on to Backstrom’s stick for the easy put-away.

The third period was more of the same, highlighted by great goaltending and physical play. The only excitement came late in the period, just after a Caps power play ended. Viktor Kozlov fired a shot on net that bounced off the upper leg of Tomas Fleischmann, who was fighting for position in front of Ellis. Flash’s leg was moving forward when the puck hit him. The play was reviewed and the goal washed out as a kick in. The play was far from cut-and-dry. Yes, Fleischmann’s leg was moving forward, but whether it was a deliberate kick or the product of his fight for position is questionable, particularly given the part of the leg that Kozlov’s shot hit. Unfortunately for the Caps, the call went the other way, setting up Feds’ historic game-winner.

One of the moves Coach Boudreau makes in overtime that I absolutely love is the insertion of Sergei Federov as a Forward-Defenseman. He is far from a liability in his own zone, and gives the Caps an extra forward in the offensive zone. This worked out brilliantly for the Caps last night.

Once again, Viktor Kozlov was the catalyst. Kozlov brought the puck into the offensive zone and passed cross-rink to Semin on the right side. Semin skated into the corner, and then passed back to Kozlov in the slot. Koz put the puck on the stick of Feds in front, who deked to the right past Dan Ellis and put the back hand into an empty net.

It took two beautiful goals and two ugly fights, but the Caps ended their losing ways. It’s better to slump in early March than late April, I guess. Hopefully, this will get the Caps back in their winning ways heading into the post-season.