‘Kind of shocking, actually’
Goal 15 seconds into overtime gives New York a 2-1 series lead
UNIONDALE, N.Y — Outside the Washington Capitals’ gut-punched dressing room, forward Jason Chimera looked down at a small television and watched, as if he needed further proof. The Capitals had survived the New York Islanders’ invasion, ceding 42 shots on goal, more than any game during the regular season. Down one forward because of injury, they had leaned on goaltender Braden Holtby, finally healthy after four days of weak muscles and misery. They had begun overtime hoping to silence the booming Nassau Coliseum. They left drenched in the din, stunned by a 2-1 loss.
So Chimera looked at the muted monitor, expressionless and lingering far longer than the 15 seconds New York needed to snatch a 2-1 series lead. There was Holtby, kicking one attempt to the side and jabbing another away. There was Islanders captain John Tavares, steaming toward the crease and hunting for a rebound. And now there was the puck, somehow squeezed behind Holtby’s back and past the knob of his stick, launching the towel-waving crowd into a frenzy while the Capitals slunk away, wondering how Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals had disappeared so fast.
“I have no idea how it happened, what happened,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “Just ... I don’t know. Kind of shocking, actually.”
Across the carpet, Holtby undressed and welcomed teammates offering their condolences. The stomach flu that raged inside his body, sidelining him altogether for Game 2, had faded, but he faced another invasion Sunday afternoon. Already short-handed because of injury, the Capitals were worked breathless deep into the third period, hammered in possession, until center Nicklas Backstrom belted the equalizer. Only Holtby kept them alive.
Game 4
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Soon, Holtby stood up and crossed his arms while cameras swarmed. Unlike Chimera, he hadn’t yet seen the replay of Tavares’ goal. It was a tough loss to swallow, Holtby conceded, perhaps the toughest of this season to date. But Game 4 lurked some 51 hours away. To avoid falling within a loss of elimination, the Capitals would need him then, too.
“One of those things, you live and you learn,” Holtby said. “You make a split-second decision; hopefully, it works out the best, and it didn’t there.”
With a roster suddenly thinned by injury, the Capitals needed every morsel of help from Holtby, who saved 14 shots during the opening period, only four fewer than his replacement, Philipp Grubauer, made Friday night. Right before Curtis Glencross’ penalty, New York forward Kyle Okposo crunched center Eric Fehr. Fehr, who several years ago underwent a doubleshoulderoperation, keeledoverinpain, chatted with trainer Greg Smith on the benchandsoonleft through the tunnel. He never returned.
“I expected that kind of start from them,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “We had to be better in the first than they were. We’ve just got to fix the battle in our game in the first period. But we survived it, and it was ‘Game on’ after that.”
Inside the 13-minute mark during the second period, Okposo shanked one attempt wide but circled around andmovedinfrontofthenet. Thepuck scooted to the point, where defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky waited. Visnovsky cranked forward Josh Bailey’s feed into traffic. With his back to the crease, Okposo deflected the puck and hooked it around Holtby’s blocker pad, then looked skyward and pumped both fists.
“That’s a goal that you want your guys to do, and we do that a lot,” Holtby said. “It’s pretty easy to put those behind you and focus on the next one.”
Then, deep into the third period, the Capitals pounced. A long shift from Alex Ovechkin, Backstrom and defenseman Mike Green kept blue sweaters pinned inside their zone for almost two minutes, pelting pucks at Halak and chipping away. Finally, Backstrom flung a wrist shot through traffic from the slot, his second tying goal in two games.
“We’ll pout about the loss, probably, for an hour here, then let it go,” Trotz said. “Have the right energy, the positive energy, the positive thoughts going forward.”