Niskanen scores twice, Capitals sink Islanders
NEW YORK -- Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored 94 seconds into the third period and added a late power-play goal as the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Niskanen scored for the first time in 43 regular-season games dating to March 5, when he scored the overtime goal in Boston.
With three New York defenders focused on gaining possession along the wall behind the net, Brock Nelson committed a turnover to Marcus Johansson. Johansson then fed Dmitry Orlov above the right circle and, following a cross-ice pass, Niskanen was alone in the left circle and put a wrist shot past Jaroslav Halak.
Niskanen then scored his second goal by putting a slap shot past Halak with 1:58 to play. It was his second career two-goal game. The other was March 4, 2014, for Pittsburgh at Nashville.
Brett Connolly and Justin Williams scored second-period goals for the Capitals, who are 5-0-1 in their last six games since a 3-0 home loss to New York on Dec. 1
Nelson and Nikolay Kulemin scored for the Islanders, who are 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington. He kept the lead by lunging forward in the crease to make a glove stop on Josh Bailey's backhand attempt with about 11 minutes left and then by getting his glove on an attempt by John Tavares two minutes later.
Halak, who had a 38-save shutout in Washington on Dec. 1, allowed four goals for the sixth time this season.
The Islanders struck first at 9:32 of the opening period.
Following a Washington turnover near the New York blue line, Cal Clutterbuck gained possession as Nelson streaked ahead of the play. Nelson inched past Washington defenseman John Carlson and fired a wrist shot from the right circle that sailed above Holtby's glove.
Washington tied the game at 2:09 of the second.
The play began when Lars Eller blocked Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk's slap-shot attempt near the blue line. Eller flew past Boychuk on the left wing and slid a pass to Connolly, who slipped the puck through Halak's pads from near the crease.
The Capitals took a 2-1 lead about 5 1/2 minutes later during a power play. Evgeny Kuznetsov sped past Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and from behind the net mad a nifty feed to Jakub Vrana, who buried the shot from the low slot past Halak's stick side.
New York tied the game at 10:41 of the second moments after Casey Cizikas shot wide of the net. Cizikas regained possession near the right faceoff circle and made a nice pass to defenseman Nick Leddy, whose slap shot from the right point deflected off Kulemin and eluded Holtby.
NOTES: Washington LW Andre Burakovsky was a Washington healthy scratch for the first time this season. Burakovsky scored twice in the season opener at Pittsburgh on Oct. 13 and has not scored since, though he has eight assists. Coach Barry Trotz described scratching Burakovsky as a "reset", saying: "It's been playing on his mind, a little bit, trying to get some production and what have you, and his ice time has gone down. I said 'just get a reset.'" ... New York returned D Scott Mayfield to Bridgeport of the AHL. Last Tuesday, Mayfield scored the first goal in a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers. ... C Alan Quine was a healthy scratch for the Islanders and D Adam Pelech (upper body) missed his seventh straight game. ... D Taylor Chorney also was scratched for Washington.