A Comeback In the Making Falls Short

Islanders 2: Capitals 5

The Isles do have ways of psyching out their fans.

After falling behind 2-0 on goals by Alexander Ovechkin and ex-Isle Viktor Kozlov, the Isles staged what one would think would be a dramatic comeback, as first Mark Streit (PP) and then Trent Hunter scored to hush the crowd at the Verizon Center before the second period ended. But last night's result showed that even the proclaimed "Comeback Kids" couldn't find it in them to seal the deal, and instead Donald Brashear (of all people) scored the game-winner in the third, poking it past sprawled goaltender Joey MacDonald, who, fresh off his 3rd star of November, made 42 saves but allowed 4 goals.

The Islanders usually start out well in the first period, but quickly got lost in the speed and effective play of Washington's offense, while their defense shut down any chance of a forecheck by the Isles until the second period. Once again, the Islanders went on a penalty parade (although the Caps would join them later), and Washington was able to capitalize twice on the resulting power plays. With a depleted squad coming into last night's game, the Caps held their breath as their superstar Alexander Ovechkin skated off the ice with what looked to be an arm/shoulder injury during the second Washington power play of the night, but he came back and looked to be fine- actually taking a penalty for boarding shortly afterward. Brent Johnson (27 saves) caught a break during the second, in which he dove for and missed the puck coming from the neutral zone on an Isles PP, resulting in the puck going in; however, the puck banked off of the referee's skate, making it a no goal. Otherwise, the usually-embattled goaltender had a strong showing against the Isles, helped out by his defense as well, while Joey Mac ended up being hung out to dry.

The Isles hung on until late in the third, when Eric Fehr scored another PP goal on the backhand, making a 3-2 lead, 4-2. Then, with MacDonald pulled, Ovechkin made a selfless play to give the puck to Nicklas Backstrom for the empty net goal. It was an exclamation point on top of the exclamation point, adding insult to the uninspired Islanders loss.

Notes: Radek Martinek is injured again, re-tweaking his shoulder in a collision with teammate Andy Sutton during practice. He will be out 2-4 weeks... Mike Sillinger appeared in his first game of the season, and first since February 2.

Other News: Sean Avery has been suspended for 6 games following his comments about Flames D Dion Phaneuf and his current girlfriend (Avery's ex), actress Elisha Cuthbert. The two games he missed during his time in limbo count towards the suspension... the Stars officially want nothing more to do with him, so they now have four games to decide what exactly they are going to do.