Washington Capitals (1-0-0 2pts) v. New York Islanders (0-0-0 0pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals head to Long Island as the New York Islanders open up their season at Nassau Coliseum. For the first half of this game the Capitals would show some glimpses of offense, but it would be the Islanders who would control the play in the Capitals zone a little more than the Capitals would have liked. However, the Capitals would be the first to respond as Jakub Vrana would come down the wing and rip the puck past Semyon Varlamov to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. But the lead wouldn’t last long as 2 minutes and 2 seconds later Devon Toews would tie the game at one after his shot would take an unfortunate bounce off of Radko Gudas’ skate and go past Ilya Samsonov. After both teams would trade goals in the midway part of the period, the pace of the game would slow down and the game would remain tied 1-1 going into the first intermission.
In the second period both teams would trade powerplay opportunities, but neither would be able to convert on their opportunities. The Capitals in particular looked very sloppy, especially with their second unit. After being outworked by the Islanders for the majority of the period the Capitals would draw another powerplay and this time they would capitalize on this opportunity as TJ Oshie would find the loose puck and backhand it in while falling for the puck to give the Capitals the 2-1 lead going into the second intermission.
In the third period we would have a very back and forth period as both teams looked to get their chances to try to get on the board. Still down by one the Islanders would pull Varlamov to gain the extra attacker, but the Capitals would shut it down and Ilya Samsonov would record his first career NHL victory.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Lars Eller – TJ Oshie
Carl Hagelin – Chandler Stephenson – Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic – Nic Dowd – Garnet Hathaway
Jonas Siegenthaler – John Carlson
Dmitri Orlov – Nick Jensen
Martin Fehervary – Radko Gudas
Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby
Full lineup for #CapsIsles #ALLCAPS | @GEICO pic.twitter.com/7Js8KNqLsy
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 4, 2019
New York Islanders:
Anders Lee – Mathew Barzal – Jordan Eberle
Michael Dal Colle – Brock Nelson – Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier – Derick Brassard – Leo Komarov
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews – Scott Mayfield
Nick Leddy – Johnny Boychuk
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
First Period:
WAS Goal – 10:25 – Jakub Vrana (2) from Lars Eller (3) and Radko Gudas
VRANA THE MAN!#ALLCAPS #CapsIsles pic.twitter.com/6WV9XjIMrS
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 4, 2019
NYI Goal – 12:27 – Devon Toews (1) from Anthony Beauvillier (1)
.@DevonToews6 – BIG pinball guy 😏 pic.twitter.com/0hF2Dzb6Uw
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 4, 2019
End of 1st
Second Period:
WAS Penalty – 2:23 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Hooking
NYI Penalty – 6:00 – Brock Nelson 2 minutes for Tripping
NYI Penalty – 16:48 – Brock Nelson 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS PPG – 17:43 – TJ Oshie (1) from John Carlson (3) and Nicklas Backstrom (1)
Oshbabe pic.twitter.com/1tcqpfN0c3
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 5, 2019
End of 2nd
Third Period:
N/A
End of 3rd
Next Up:
Washington (2-0-0 4pts) v. Carolina (1-0-0 2pts)
NY Islanders (0-1-0 0pts) v. Winnipeg (0-0-0 0pts)
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