Islanders 3, Capitals 2 (OT)
Captain John Tavares scored on the power play at 4:36 of overtime to lift host New York to its fifth consecutive victory.
Tavares faked a defender to the ice from the right faceoff dot before burying a wrist shot with two seconds left on the man advantage as the Islanders won for the 10th time in 11 games. Anders Lee and defenseman Travis Hamonic also scored while Jaroslav Halak turned aside 25 shots en route to matching a career high with his eighth straight win.
Captain Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of power-play goals in his 700th career game for Washington, which will host New York on Friday in the second leg of the home-and-home series. Braden Holtby made 32 saves in falling to 5-1-1 lifetime against the Islanders.
Brock Nelson set up Ryan Strome for a one-timer five minutes into the game and Lee pounced on the rebound, tucking it between Holtby's skate and the left post. Ovechkin tied it 8 1/2 minutes later with his patented one-timer from the left faceoff dot.
Hamonic put the Islanders ahead with 2:22 left in the first period, beating Holtby from above the right circle off the faceoff, but Ovechkin countered with 73 seconds left in the middle session with a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off a perfect feed by Nicklas Backstrom from behind the net.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ovechkin registered his 15th game with multiple power-play tallies, the most among active players. ... Strome collected his 12th and 13th assists, surpassing his total of 11 set in 37 games last season. ... ... Backstrom's two assists gave him 24 points in 25 games against New York.