Islanders Vs Capitals 04/01/2009 Review

Mike Green celebrates goal number 30 of the season on April 1, 2009.
Photo by Alex Brandon / AP Photo.

Islanders 3 - Capitals 5

After a very weak effort in the first period, the Washington Capitals got a little physical in the second. Then in the third period, defenseman Mike Green scored two power play goals, putting the Capitals ahead of the New York Islanders for the win.

Once again, Washington spent the first 20 minutes making a lesser team look real good. They seem to like to toy with bottom dwellers, allowing them to gain the lead and become over confident, before pouring it on for an exciting comeback win. Personally, I could do without the nerve wracking start, followed up by a late winning surge scenario. However they do it though, a win and two more points are always good.

It was clear that the Caps needed a spark to get them going after falling two goals behind, and at 1:40 in the second period, defenseman John Erskine provided that spark via a good old fashioned hockey fight with New York's Joel Rechlicz. While Jeff Schultz will never be the tough guy that Erskine is, he joined the effort, getting into his first NHL fight shortly after. His opponent was Islander Tim Jackman. The rough stuff seemed to be the right kind of fuel to get the Capitals' scoring engine running. At 5:37, Alex Ovechkin banged in his NHL leading 54th goal of the season past netminder Joey MacDonald, after getting a nice from behind the goal pass from Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov, who was actually playing defense on that particular shift, had collected the puck sent deep by Mike Green. Recent call up and AHL leading scorer with 94 points, Keith Aucoin scored his first goal as a Capital about four and a half minutes later. It was also his first NHL goal of the season.

Richard Park put the Islanders back ahead early in the third period. The unassisted goal versus Caps' goalie Jose Theodore made the score 3-2. With the help of Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green scored his 29th goal of the season at 10:55, while on the PP. One minute and twenty-three seconds later, on the power play again, he scored his 30th unassisted. Green is only the eighth NHL defenseman ever to score 30 or more goals in a single season. It's an accomplishment that hasn't been done since the 1992-1993 season. Green currently has a seven game scoring streak going. About a minute before the end of the game, Nicklas Backstrom scored his 22nd of the season. Backstrom got the unassisted empty netter after taking the puck away from NY defenseman Jack Hillen just inside the offensive zone.

The win gives Theodore 30 on the season for the third time in his career. It also means 101 points for the Capitals, who are now just 7 points behind the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins and 3 points ahead of the third place New Jersey Devils.