Alex Ovechkin welcomed himself to the postseason Friday night, but the Islanders took a 2-0 series lead anyways.
Barry Trotz’s crew withstood a two-goal game from the dangerous Ovechkin, finding a quick response to his second strike and imposing their will late to come away with a 5-2 win at Scotiabank Arena.
Brock Nelson provided the winner, stealing a puck and scoring on a breakaway 15 seconds after Ovechkin had tied it 2-2 early in the second period. The Islanders buckled down the rest of the way and added a pair of late goals to extend their first-round series lead, with Game 3 set for Sunday afternoon.
“Getting the one back right away to establish a lead, we’ve all been there when it happens against us and it can kind of be deflating, so that was big-time,” Nelson said.
Ovechkin had a chance to make it a hat trick midway through the third period on the power play, but with an open net to work with he pushed the shot wide.
Brock Nelson scores a goal on Braden Holtby during the second period of the Islanders’ 5-2 Game 2 win over the Capitals on Friday night.APThe Islanders made the most of the missed opportunity, putting in some gritty work on the forecheck late to pin the Capitals in their own zone and make life miserable for them. The third line of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Derick Brassard and Leo Komarov played a big part in it, sucking the life out of the Capitals’ comeback hopes before Cal Clutterbuck delivered an insurance goal with 2:46 left and Anders Lee added an empty-netter for the final tally.
“We were just trying to stay on top of them and not give them any room to come at us because of the talent they have,” Clutterbuck said. “We’re just trying to get over the top of people and stay in the fight and stay aggressive.”
It was exactly the kind of style that Trotz wanted to see from his team, playing to their identity.
“That’s how you win,” Trotz said. “Guys are committed to that effort. I really liked the third period. We didn’t back off, we just stayed to our game, and we got the result we wanted.”
Ovechkin had been held without a point through the Capitals’ first four postseason games, but the ticking time bomb finally broke through 56 seconds into Game 2. It was part of a slow start for the Islanders, who registered just one shot on net through the first 10 minutes of the opening period.
They began to play their game after that, though, and tied it early in the second period on Nick Leddy’s power-play strike — the first of four goals in a span of 3:58. The next came when Matt Martin crashed the crease and one-timed a perfect pass from Scott Mayfield to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 5:01.
Ovechkin came back with a second goal off a redirection, but Nelson had the quick answer 15 seconds later to put the Islanders ahead for good.
“I loved our response after they had it tied up,” Trotz said. “It was one of those momentum changers.”
Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves in the win, including three big ones in the opening minute of the third period to keep the 3-2 lead intact. The Islanders delivered two big penalty kills after that, with some help from Ovechkin missing wide, to ensure their 2-0 series lead.
“As much as we can stay on them and kind of play our grind game, get some O-zone time and possession, kind of jam up the neutral zone, it’s going to be frustrating for anyone, hopefully,” Nelson said. “Every game is not going to be perfect and you’re not going to take away everything, so you want to try and take the majority of the game [away] in that time.”
