Shorthanded & sweet
Isles score 4 straight, one while down a man, to stun Caps
TORONTO — Islanders coach Barry Trotz isn’t surprised the Washington Capitals are unhappy with Anders Lee.
Trotz didn’t see anything wrong with Lee’s play in a 4-2 first-round victory in which the Islanders captain set the tone with a big hit on Capitals play-making forward Nicklas Backstrom, and then scored a key goal in the Islanders rallying from a 2-0 deficit Wednesday.
Jordan Eberle and Lee tied the game, 2-2, with goals 1:54 apart spanning the second intermission. Josh Bailey scored the go-ahead goal with the Islanders shorthanded 6:52 into the third period, and Anthony Beauvillier capped a four-goal outburst in a game the Island“Playoff ers allowed the Capitals seven power-play opportunities. hockey should be right up Anders’ wheelhouse, if you will,” Trotz said. “He’s big. He’s strong. He scored an important goal. He had a hit. And he responded to (Tom) Wilson’s challenge. What more can you ask from a leader?”
Lee wound up getting into two fights, the first with defenseman John Carlson immediately after bowling over Backstrom with a heavy hit 2 1/2 minutes in. Then he fought Wilson later in the period.
Capitals coach Todd Reirden called Lee’s hit “late” and “predatory.”
Carlson was more blunt in calling Lee’s hit as appearing
“real dirty to me.”
Lee was penalized for interference after a shoulder-toshoulder hit, in which Backstrom appeared to be looking the other way and didn’t have the puck.
“I tried to throw the brakes on a little bit there, but I caught him,“Lee said. “The end result after that was a penalty, a couple of fights. It was settled and then the game continued on.”
T.J. Oshie scored on consecutive power-play opportunities five minutes apart in the second period for Washington.
“I think we just give then breath,” the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin said. “That goal at the end (of the second period) obviously give them a little breath. But in the third period we can’t start like that.”
Eberle began the comeback by scoring on a snapshot from the high slot with 63 seconds left in the second period. Lee tied the game 51 seconds into the third by converting a rebound in front, after Braden Holtby stopped Ryan Pulock’s blast from the right point.
Bailey and Brock Nelson caught the Capitals’ powerplay napping, scoring the goahead goal with Leo Komarov off for high-sticking.
Nelson began the play by lobbing the puck high into the air from the Washington blue line. He then raced in and disrupted Holtby’s bid to play the puck. Nelson then stripped Ovechkin in the corner before centering to a wide-open Bailey
in front, from where he fired it inside the left post.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots for the Islanders, who eliminated the Florida Panthers in four games of their best-of-five preliminary round series last week.
The Metropolitan Division champion Capitals were coming off a sluggish performance in a preliminary round in which they finished 1-1-1, managed just five goals and closed with a 2-1 victory over Boston on Sunday.
“We just move on,” Ovechkin said. “Nothing you can do right now. We just going to learn from our mistakes.”
Carlson notched two assists in returning after missing three preliminary round games with an injury. Holtby stopped 23 shots.