Capitals 4, Islanders 1
NEW YORK -- Left winger Alex Ovechkin scored his 497th career goal Thursday night as the Washington Capitals remained atop the NHL with a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center.
Ovechkin's goal with 4:15 left in the first period went down as the game-winner, though left winger Jason Chimera's goal 10 minutes earlier gave the Capitals (30-7-3) a lead they would never relinquish.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt scored in the second and center Nicklas Backstrom added an empty netter with 2:42 left in the third for Washington, which won two straight since its only two-game losing streak of the season. The Capitals are 11-1-1 in their last 13 games and will remain at least one point ahead of the Dallas Stars, who hosted the Winnipeg Jets Thursday.
Goalie Braden Holtby recorded 34 saves as he allowed two goals or fewer for the 25th time in 32 starts.
Center Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders (22-14-5), who lost for the sixth time in 10 games (4-6-0) to fall 14 points behind the Capitals in the Metropolitan Division.
Goalie Jaroslav Halak, who missed the previous five games with an upper-body injury, made 34 saves.
The game was the first between the Islanders and Capitals since Washington's seven-game win in a bitter Eastern Conference quarterfinal series last April. There were no fisticuffs Thursday, though six penalties were called and there was a pushing-and-shoving match involving nine players near the Islanders net with 7:32 left in the third.
A few minutes earlier, heated words were exchanged between New York left winger Matt Martin and Washington right winger Tom Wilson following a skirmish near the benches. Wilson knocked then-Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky out of the playoffs with a hard hit along the boards in Game Four.
The Capitals took the lead 5:45 into the first. Left winger Marcus Johansson won a faceoff against Islanders center Mikhail Grabovski deep in the New York zone and continued to elude Grabovski as the two skated behind the net. Johansson passed to Chimera, whose shot from to the left of Halak squirted between the goalie's legs.
Ovechkin made it 2-0 exactly 10 minutes later, when his slap shot was slowed by Halak before dribbling through his legs.
The Islanders cut it to 2-1 1:59 into the second, when center Ryan Strome emerged from a scrum at the right faceoff circle and dished the puck to Nelson, whose shot sailed under Holtby's glove.
New York nearly tied the score twice during a power play late in the period, when a shot by center Anders Lee sailed over the net and Holtby turned back an attempt by center John Tavares.
The Capitals wasted no time making the Islanders pay upon getting back to even strength. Center Nicklas Backstrom stole the puck from New York defenseman Marek Zidlicky behind the net and passed to Schmidt. His shot from the left faceoff circle sailed behind Halak just six seconds after the power play expired for a 3-1 lead.
NOTES: Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said C Mike Richards, who signed a one-year deal worth a prorated $1 million on Thursday, would practice Friday and could play Saturday against the New York Rangers. The Los Angeles Kings bought out the final five years of Richards' contract June 29, 12 days after he was stopped at the Canadian/U.S. border and found to be in possession of OxyContin. ... The Capitals scratched D Ryan Stanton. ... Islanders head coach Jack Capuano coached his 400th game, second-most in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Al Arbour (1,500). ... The Islanders scratched RW Steve Bernier, LW Eric Boulton and D Brian Strait.