Caps beat Islanders to tie for division lead

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — It was a game of questionable calls and lucky bounces, the kind of things that tend to decide playoff games — and for a March matchup, this was pretty close. The Metropolitan Division's top teams met Friday night, and the last time they had shared Nassau Coliseum was a playoff Game 7 in 2015.

On Friday, the Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 3-1 to tie them atop the division, although New York still has a game in hand. With Is l a n d e r s goaltender Thomas Greiss pulled for an extra skater late, forward Josh Bailey inadvertently put the puck in his team's empty net, sealing the result for Washington. T.J. Oshie was credited with the tally at 18:32, capping a three-goal third period.

“We kind of felt going in that it was going to have a little bit of a playoff feel,” Oshie said. “Two teams with similar styles not giving up a lot. ... We just kept pushing and found a way to get the win.”

It took the Capitals more than 43 minutes to get on the board, but they stayed patient and stuck to their game plan before Jakub Vrana broke through by punching a deflected pass past Greiss to tie the score at 1 with his 19th goal of the season.

On the next shift, Islanders captain Anders Lee was called for interference, awarding Washington its first power play. Just 13 seconds in, captain Alex Ovechkin scooped up the rebound of Oshie's shot, and the puck fortuitously deflected off a New York stick before taking a high hop over Greiss and into the net for the go-ahead goal.

Ovechkin is on an eightgame point streak, with seven goals and four assists in that span, and Friday's was his league-leading 45th goal of the season. He has 10 career 45-goal campaigns, more than any other player in NHL history.

“I didn't know about that,” Ovechkin said. “The guys told me. Yeah, it's pretty special.”

The Capitals and Islanders have been side by side in the Metropolitan standings for a while now, and while Washington was expected to be one of the league's better teams after returning the bulk of its Stanley Cup-winning roster from last season, New York's rise has been unexpected. That's a credit to Barry Trotz, coach of the Capitals the previous four seasons before moving to the Islanders' bench in the offseason.

New York has gone from the team that allowed the most goals per game last year to the best defensive team in this one, and while Washington was facing the Islanders' No. 2 goaltender, Greiss entered with an impressive .928 save percentage and a 2.26 goalsagainst average.

He saved all 19 of the Capitals' shots through two periods. Washington had been shut out in its previous game against New York, a 2-0 loss Jan. 18 in Capital One Arena, and this game was similarly tight, with both teams struggling to get time and space. Holtby faced just 13 shots through 40 minutes, but two pucks clanged off the pipe behind him. He finished with 20 saves.

“It was an extremely competitive game,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “I thought the intensity level was at a high, and you know what, we didn't have success to start the game, but we stayed the course.”