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Caps vs. Islanders Recap: Isles Clean Up 4-3

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Despite goals from the captain and a hopefully-resurgent Andre Burakovsky, the Washington Capitals tripped and fell into fish food Tuesday night, as the New York Islanders claimed a 4-3 victory.

Here’s Tuesday night’s Plus/Minus:

Plus: Andre Burakovsky, Guy Who May Be Very Good But Better Start Scoring If He Wants to Get Paaiiiid, got back on the score sheet, recording his fourth goal of the season.

Minus: There are some big time problems with this Capitals defense. Who can you trust? This blue line unit needs to start being held accountable for its failures.

And now, this, in a bit of personal news…

1. Cal Clutterbuck, the Guy Whose Name Sounds Like a Peripheral Character in Power Rangers, got the Islanders on the board first, making potential Russian Manchurian Candidate Dmitry Orlov pay for an ill-advised and ill-calibrated drop pass. Buttercluck took it the other way and beat Braden Holtby to make it 1-0 New York.

2. With six minutes left in the period, Justin Williams, the Old Bae Dauphin, rewarded his own tenacity with a put-back goal at the end of a flurry of chances by Ovechkin and Kuznetsov. Jaroslav Halak wanted a goaltender interference call, but people in hell want ice water and it was 1-1 in Brooklyn.

3. Fifteen minutes of the second period passed with fewer goals than your brother in law, until Andrew Ladd slammed home a gorgeous cross-crease assist from Thomas Hickey that sucked so hard my neck got bruised.

4. Whatever Barry Trotz said to Alex Ovechkin in the room (I assume it has several nyets and “hockey”), it worked, as O Captain Our Captain found himself all alone and the roof of the goal, burying a nice assist from Justin Williams to tie it at two.

5. But just five minutes later, vaguely-Leprechaun-y named Andrew Ladd notched his second of the night to give New York a 3-2 lead.

6. And then, just forty cruel seconds later, like the margin between perfectly microwaved popcorn and inedible carbon garbage, Anders Lee scored on a breakway chance to effectively break the Capitals’ backs.

7. But like Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, you can come back from a broken back with enough ropes and Swedes. Andre Burakovsky gave Washington new life with a net-crashing slam dunk in the final six minutes to make it 4-3 Islanders.

8. But life is naught but a vapid dying gasp in compassionless void, and the Islanders won 4-3.

9. Tom Wilson, perhaps the most improved Capitals forward this season, got wrecked by a blocked shot and smashed in the back of the head by an Islanders defender, and as he lay covering his head on the ice, play was allowed to continue. Some fans in Capitalsland were outraged that officials didn’t stop play, but in this one observer’s opinion, Wilson got up within a few seconds, the Islanders had a genuinely promising offensive opportunity, and nothing about Wilson’s demeanor suggested he had a serious head or neck injury.

10. The Capitals pK continues to kick tuchus, going 4-for-4 tonight and maintaining a notoriously stingy penalty killing apparatus.

The Caps drop two points to a division rival, which is…comment dit-on…a bummer. Next up is the New Jersey Devils on Thursday at Verizon Center.

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