The puck fluttered to the base of John Carlson’s skates, feet from the boards and the blue line, and the defenseman teed it up. If this wouldn’t work, nothing would, so Carlson let it rip, and once it careened off Jaroslav Halak’s pads with a hard thud, the Washington Capitals defenseman threw his hands skyward in resignation, turned and took a seat on the bench.
Washington had been preparing for this evening not just since the regular season ended three days earlier, but for weeks, months and, dare say it, a year. Here the Capitals were, back in the postseason, their rite of spring, and all the memories they wanted to erase on Wednesday night with 60 minutes of celebration couldn’t be flushed.
An uninspired first period of hockey cascaded into two on the chase, and the Capitals never did catch up. They lost, 4-1, to the New York Islanders at Verizon Center, putting them in a hole in Game 1 of the teams’ best-of-seven, first-round playoff series.
“Our compete level, our battle level, wasn’t as high as it needs to be tonight, and we’re disappointed in that — especially because we worked so hard to get into the playoffs,” right wing Troy Brouwer said.
Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome and Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders, who needed no assistance considering Washington’s misplays. Braden Holtby, who tied a franchise record for victories during the regular season, allowed a pair of easy goals, and a lone tally by Marcus Johansson in the first period never gave the Capitals the momentum the team so badly needed.
Since missing out on the postseason a year ago, the Capitals set a return as their primary goal; after all, a team can’t win the Stanley Cup without participating in the playoffs. That appetite, though, could be destructive, as coach Barry Trotz cautioned Wednesday morning, underscoring that too much emotion in the first 10 minutes couldn’t win a team a game, but certainly could lose it.
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That’s when Nelson pounced. Off a turnover at 6:06 of the first period, Nelson dug in from the blue line and drove the puck toward Holtby with a flick of his wrist, beating the goaltender shortside and giving the Islanders an early 1-0 advantage.
Johansson, who reached the 20-goal mark for the first time, scored the equalizer with 56.3 seconds remaining in the first period. Halak, who had 24 saves, attempted to play the puck and was disrupted by Capitals left wing Brooks Laich, who pushed it to Johansson at the right faceoff circle.
Whatever high the Capitals figured they could ride from that goal never came. Instead, the second period was more of the same — fleeting opportunities and mental miscues, punctuated by a penalty assessed to right wing Jason Chimera after the horn. By that point, Strome and Bailey had put their team ahead, with Strome rifling a pass from Tavares off a faceoff past a screened Holtby at 3:50 and Bailey jamming his own rebound past the goaltender seven minutes later.
That deficit was too much. The Capitals’ greatest opportunity, a power play midway through the third period, led to five shots — three of which were blocked by the Islanders.
Holtby, who finished with 23 saves, was out of the net with 2:10 remaining, and Nelson had an easy lay-up with a minute later that sent the Capitals to their dressing room, scratching their heads.
“We aren’t panicking,” Laich said. “We aren’t depressed or anything. We didn’t play well. We need to play better. That’s it. We’ll get back to practice tomorrow, park this one, get back to practice tomorrow and come with a better effort next game.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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