Sweet Dreams Ovi

The Washington Capitals traveled to Long Island for Game#3 against the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon.  The series is tied 1-1, but you could have made a strong case that if it was not for a couple of broken sticks that the Islanders could easily have been up 2-0.

On Saturday, Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin made an interesting comment that, "the Coliseum will be loud, but I don't think it will be as loud as the Verizon Center."  Now lets be honest here.  The Verizon Center was so quiet during the first game that you could hear a pin drop.  It did not sound any different than a regular home game.  The second game was the same until the Capitals scored late.  There  was no comparison between the two arenas.  Boy was Ovechkin in for a surprise.  The Islander fans took that on as a challenge and made sure that the building was extra loud.  Ovechkin heard every one of them.  

The Islanders asked their fans to come dressed in blue and they handed out orange towels to wave during the game.  The fans stated tailgating in the Nassau Coliseum parking lot by 7:30 AM.  The only change was Tyler Kennedy was inserted into the line-up and Michael Grabner was scratched.  Jaroslav Halak was in net vs. Braden Holtby who got over his sniffles on Friday.  

As far as my Islander couture for the day I decided to switch it up today for the home game.  I broke out my "It happened at the Coliseum" blue hoodie and my "Rock the Barn" hat.  I made the critical decision well before game time simply based on the fact that the Islanders lost on Friday and also because paying homage to the Nassau Coliseum seemed like the right thing to do.

At the drop of the puck the Islanders were flying around the rink.  The fourth line lead the charge as expected.  New York had the first ten shots on goal amidst a number of scrums in front of both nets.  Each team had an opportunity on the power play, but could not convert.  The Islanders ended up with a 16-5 shot advantage but in the end could not get on the board.

In the second period, the first ten minutes were a replica of the first period.  Lubomir Visnovsky took a vicious hit and laid out flat on the ice for a couple of minutes.  There was huge concern as Lubo has a history of six concussions.  He eventually got up and skated off.  Later in the period, the Islanders had the puck in the Washington zone and Lubo took another big hit and fell on the ice, but bounced up right away.  

The Islanders cycled the puck around and got it back onto Lubo's stick.  He launched a slap shot that was redirected by Kyle Okposo in front of Braden Holtby and into the net for a 1-0.  It was Okposo's 2nd goal of the playoffs.  Josh Bailey got the secondary assist.  The Islanders got a quick power play opportunity on the ensuing face-off but could not convert.

Right before the end of the period, Brian Strait got called for high sticking.  The Capitals applied some pressure, and as time was winding down, Ovechkin made a move around Johnny Boychuck and was on his way towards Halak.  Boychuck did not give up. Even though he was on the ice, he windmilled his stick around and made contact with the puck knocking it out of the zone as time ran out.

The Washington Capitals really took it to the Islanders in the third period.  They were able to dump and chase and work the puck down low behind the net and control the play in their zone for most of the period.  The Islanders played good defense, but it seemed almost like they were resigned to playing defense and trying to get a shutout.  

However, the effort of the Capital's would pay dividends.  Niklas Backstrom was able to beat Halak from the slot, aided by a screen from Ovechkin in front of the net to tie the game at one apiece.  The Islanders woke up after the goal and started to gear up their offense again, but it was too late and the game went to overtime.

I was not prepared for this.  Sudden death overtime is something I had not experienced in many, many years.  I sat closer to the television and right in front of my "Islanders shrine".  I looked at my bobblehead collection and stared straight at Bobby Nystrom.  I touched his head for good luck, because Mr. Islander had a knack for overtime goals in the day.  I then looked around and did the same thing for John Tavares.

As overtime started, the Islanders won the face-off and got it to Johnny Boychuk who fired it in on Holtby who gloved the puck and fed it to the corner.  The puck made it back to Nick Leddy who directed a shot on net.  A big rebound went to Kulemin and then a second rebound found John Tavares who was stationed at the right of the net.  The Captain knocked it in to win the game and it only took fifteen seconds.  It was their first overtime winner in the playoffs in 22 years.

The Islanders took a 2-1 lead in the series and look towards extending that on Tuesday evening back at the Nassau Coliseum.  The Islanders outshot the Capitals 42-25 for the game and produced offense when they had to.  If they can convert a couple of early goals on Tuesday they should be in good shape.

After the game winning goal, Tavares was mobbed in the corner and teammates jumped into his arms.  It also happened to be the same corner that Bobby Nystrom scored "The Goal" to give the Islanders their fist Stanley Cup in 1980, almost 34 years ago.  It was a thing of beauty.  The crowd let out the loudest and longest Yes!, Yes!, Yes! chant that I am sure #8 will be hearing in his dreams, or maybe for Ovechkin it will be his nightmares.