Islanders beat Capitals 2-1 in OT, take 3-0 lead in series
TORONTO (AP) » Mathew Barzal slipped behind the defense, swooped in front of the net and beat Braden Holtby with a backhand that put the 2018 Stanley Cup champions on the brink of another early exit.
Barzal scored 4:28 into overtime shortly after Semyon Varlamov made two saves on a breakaway, lifting the New York Islanders to a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday and a 3-0 advantage in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
“Mat wants to be that difference-maker and he got an opportunity and he capitalized,” New York coach Barry Trotz said.
The sixth-seeded Islanders have put Washington within a loss of being eliminated in the first round for the second straight year after hoisting the Cup.
“Obviously, for us right now it’s nothing to lose, right? So we just have to go out there and play,” Washington star Alex Ovechkin said. “Don’t think about the score in the series.”
Holtby had 32 saves for the third-seeded Capitals, who have to win Game 4 on Tuesday night to extend the bestof-seven series.
“I know it’s a hard situation, but it’s not over yet,” said Ovechkin, who had one assist and one shot Sunday. “We won the Cup when we were down 2-0 against Columbus, coming back, and we’re going to try.”
New York’s Anders Lee broke a scoreless tie late in the first period. Evgeny Kuznetsov pulled the Capitals into a tie with a power-play goal early in the second.
Varlamov stopped 22 shots, including two in overtime when Jakub Vrana had a breakaway shortly before Barzal scored the winner off Jordan Eberle’s pass that took advantage of poor defensive positioning.
“I just should have been sagged off a little bit more to give myself a better chance at the puck,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said.
The 23-year-old Barzal was thankful the play wasn’t called offside.