Halak blanks Caps with 38 saves
WASHINGTON -- Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves for his first shutout of the season and the New York Islanders scored three third-period goals to defeat the Washington Capitals 3-0 on Thursday night at Verizon Center for their third straight victory.
Shane Prince, Brock Nelson and former Capital Jason Chimera scored in a 4:28 span for New York (9-10-4), which owns its first three-game winning streak of the season. New York topped the Flames on Monday and the Penguins on Tuesday before traveling to Washington.
Halak picked up his 40th career shutout, holding the Capitals scoreless despite six Washington power plays.
Alex Ovechkin nearly gave Washington the lead when he hit the post on a power play attempt early in the third period. Ninety seconds later, Washington's Dmitry Orlov turned the puck over. Prince skated into a pass from Casey Cizikas, broke in alone and wristed a shot past Braden Holtby at 3:15 of the period.
The Islanders made it 2-0 at the 6:43 mark during a scrum in front of the net when Nelson fired a loose puck through a crowd for his sixth of the season.
It was 3-0 after Chimera lifted a back-hander over Holtby's shoulder at 7:43.
Holtby made 25 stops for Washington (13-7-2), which had been off since losing Saturday.
Washington had the better chances over the first 20 minutes.
Halak made a pad save to stop Tom Wilson on a breakaway attempt early. Then, with Washington on a power play, Halak denied Justin Williams from the slot and Ovechkin fanned on an open net attempt in close.
The Capitals appeared to take a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal as the first period expired. Williams deflected a feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov past Halak that was ruled a goal on the ice. A replay review showed, however, that the puck had not yet crossed the goal line when time ran out.
Halak kept the game scoreless when he made a sliding stop on Lars Eller on the doorstep midway through the second period.
Holtby matched him minutes later when he stopped Nelson from the slot. Then in the final minute with the Capitals on a power play, Cizikas broke in alone, but Holtby robbed him with the glove.
NOTES: LW Jakub Vrana, 20, Washington's first round pick (13th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut and skated on a line with RW Andre Burakovsky and C Evgeny Kuznetsov. ... D Matt Niskanen, who left Washington's previous game with a lower-body injury, was in the lineup. ... The Islanders lead the league in blocked shots. ... The Capitals scratched D Taylor Chorney and C Paul Carey. ... Islanders D Dennis Seidenberg, who missed six games with an upper-body injury, was activated and D Adam Pelich (upper body) was placed on injured reserve. LW Anthony Beauvillier, D Scott Mayfield and G Thomas Greiss were the New York scratches.