The Washington Capitals were back at the barn on Tuesday night in Game#4 of the series. Every game at this time of the year is pivotal, but some games have higher stakes than others. An Islanders win and they would go up 3-1 forcing the Capitals to sweep the remaining three games to advance. A Capitals win would even the series and give them back home ice advantage and reduce the series to a best of three.
Earlier in the day a number of people posted a great photo of a near perfect rainbow over the Nassau Coliseum. It certainly looked like some sort of sign. Then later on in the day, I saw a national story about a quadruple rainbow over Glen Cove, which is a stone's throw away from the Coliseum. Four rainbows? Could that have been a reference to the Islanders four Stanley Cups?
At the start of the game, the sold out crowd seemed to be every bit as loud as the crowd on Sunday. The fourth line was hitting every thing in sight and the Islanders got some early pucks on Braden Holtby. The Islanders got a power play chance when Alexander Ovechkin got caught tripping Nickolay Kulemin. After the man advantage was over, the Capitals moved the puck into the Islanders zone and after a Carlson slap shot, Ovechkin used his stick to deflect it past Jaroslav Halak for a 1-0 lead with seven minutes left in the period. Halak was screened on the shot and never saw it.
As time was winding down in the first period, I was just hoping that the Islanders would not let in a last second goal and dig themselves a hole. However, just the opposite happened. With thirteen seconds left, Cal Clutterbuck made a nice move into the slot and fired a shot on Holtby that he turned aside. Casey Czikas was there to knock in the rebound to tie the game at one apiece. It was Casey's first goal of the playoffs. Nick Leddy got the second assist.
In the second period, the Capitals started a march towards the penalty box. After Tom Wilson got called for kneeing, he bolted out of the penalty box and ran over Lubomir Visnovky behind the Islander net for his second straight penalty. Poor Lubo was down on the ice for a few minutes and then had to go back to the locker room to get tested for a possible concussion. That's made it two games in a row that Visnovsky was laid out on a borderline hit. He would not return.
New York got a fourth opportunity on the powerless play when Mike Green heard some Clutterbuck footsteps and launched a puck into the crowd for a delay of game penalty. Four penalties. four penalty kills, and four rainbows. Was there some sort of connection? That may not have been a good sign and the hope was that it would not come back to haunt the Islanders in the third period.
Both teams traded opportunities as the shifts got shorter. Then with about six minutes left the Capitals got their first power play opportunity when Anders Lee got called for holding. The Capitals had a great chance when Johansson was all alone on the doorstep, only to have Halak snatch the puck out of mid air. As the Islanders darted down to the other end of the ice, Cal Clutterbuck almost got a shorty but hit the cross bar. After sixty minutes this one would be decided by overtime.
Sunday's overtime ended so quick there was no time to be nervous. This one would last a little longer. Overtime is exciting when you don't have a horse in the race. When your team is involved it is downright nerve-wracking. One bad bounce or bad break and the game is over. For the Islanders it was another broken stick that gave the Capitals the puck. Niklas Backstrom rifled it past Halak to win the game 2-1 at the eleven minute mark.
As much as I would like to blame the broken stick or the hit on Visnovsky, the truth is that the Islanders squandered four straight power plays in the first two periods. Instead of having a cushion they went into the third period in a 1-1 game. Now the series is tied at two games apiece and the Capitals have home ice advantage once again. That means the Islanders need to win at least one more game in the nation's capital.
These are two evenly matched teams. It looks like the series will most likely go seven games. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a grind and there is no easy pass to go straight to the finals. It takes a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck to advance. The Islanders needed some luck tonight, but never got it.
I was so sure that the rainbow that was spotted hovering over the Nassau Coliseum earlier today was a good sign of things to come, but alas it was not. Rainbows are a reminder and a promise that all good things come from above. Not on this night. Not in this barn. Thanks for nothing…rainbow.
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