New York Islanders strike three goals to stun Washington Capitals – NHL Update
New York Islanders stunned a relatively better team, Washington Capitals, by scoring three goals and restricting the opponents from making any scoring move in the National Hockey League (NHL) game on Tuesday, January 17, 2012, at the Verizon Center, Washington.
John Tavares scored in the first period, while P.A. Parenteau scored in the second and third periods respectively to outsmart the seemingly feeble Capitals’ side.
Islanders’ goalie, Evgeni Nabokov, made 17 saves to get a shutout.
The Islanders are ranked at 13th spot in the NHL Eastern Conference ranking table. They have 40 points after playing 44 games and desperately need to register a few more wins to reach the playoffs.
It was the first two-goal game for Parenteau, who was jubilant after the victory.
"We know we're playing for our season right now, being 10 points back of a playoff spot," he remarked. "This is a big stretch for us and I think all the boys in this locker room are aware of that. That's why we came out swinging tonight and were ready to
go. We know if we want to stay in the hunt we have to put some wins together."
The first goal came when the Islanders took advantage of the power-play in the first period. At 11:17, Capitals’ Karl Alzner was handed over a two-minute penalty.
At 12:05, when Tavares was present near the net, Mark Streit struck the puck towards him. Tavares tipped the pass and redirected the puck into the net to score his 17th goal of the season.
Parenteau was the next to score. In the second period, he increased the lead at 6:05.
Capitals’ Dmitry Orlov sent a silly pass, which was intercepted by Frans Nielsen, who sent the puck into the left circle where Parenteau collected it and fired a successful shot to take the score to 2-0.
Nielsen provided another assist in the final period to help Parenteau score his second goal of the game.
The Capitals were shorthanded after Alex Ovechkin’ departure for two minutes, after he cross checked Andrew MacDonald.
Nielsen sent the puck to Matt Moulson, who was present on left side of goalie, Tomas Vokoun. Moulson passed it across to Parenteau, who flipped the mail into the net for the final goal of the game.
Capitals coach, Dale Hunter, accepted that his players made a few mistakes, which eventually cost them the game.
"We were too cute around the net," he said after the defeat. "They were sliding around all over the place and blocking (passes). We have to get pucks to the net."
The Capitals, who have got their three-game streak snapped, are now going to face Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, January 18.
The Islanders will look to continue their winning run as they play against Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
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