Jason Chimera scored the go-ahead goal 7:37 into the third period as the Washington Capitals fought back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the New York Islanders, 4-3, in Game 2 of the teams’ first-round playoff series.
Karl Alzner, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals, while Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves after making the surprising start with Braden Holtby unavailable because of an illness.
“We did what we wanted to,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We made just some slight adjustments from Game 1, which you do, and we just stayed with it. We stayed with it all night.”
Cal Clutterbuck, Ryan Strome and Kyle Okposo scored for the Islanders, who dominated and won Game 1 on Wednesday, 4-1.
Recalled from Hershey on Friday morning, Grubauer, making his first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance, earned the start after Braden Holtby was unable to play because of an illness. Holtby had started the final 25 games of the regular season, setting a franchise record, but started feeling uneasy on Wednesday and missed Thursday’s optional practice and Friday’s morning skate as a result.
“Just like every other game — I prepared,” said Grubauer, who learned he would start that morning. “As soon as the puck drops, it’s all business.”
Grubauer allowed the Islanders’ first goal at 5:14 of the first period — a wrister by Cal Clutterbuck on a two-on-one rush. The second goal wasn’t much better and appeared to be a harbinger, with Grubauer allowing a laser on a one-timer by Ryan Strome at 3:24 of the second period.
The Capitals, though, slowly started turning things around with sustained offensive zone time and traffic in front of the net. Karl Alzner scored at 11:26 of the second period, drilling Halak in the left shoulder with a slapper from the right point, and while Kyle Okposo scored at 14:09 after the Islanders picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, Alex Ovechkin scored his 32nd career playoff goal by putting in a rebound of Matt Niskanen’s drive exactly two minutes later.
Alzner’s goal and Ovechkin’s goal each were the result of sustained zone time, with the Capitals managing to get a body in front of Halak — Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward, respectively — before getting the puck by him. On Ovechkin’s goal, the left wing had been on the ice for 1:35 before finding the back of the net.
“When you play a minute-and-a-half shift in your zone, you’re done, you’re gassed,” Alzner said. “When you play a minute-and-a-half shift in their zone, even though you’re still going hard, you just have tons of energy. That’s what’s so fun about it.”
A power-play goal by Nicklas Backstrom at 3:44 of the third period tied the score at 3-3, while Jason Chimera managed to drive back his own rebound just shy of four minutes later for the comeback.
Halak, who finished with 31 saves, left his net with 1:15 remaining, but the Islanders could muster only one shot on goal with the man advantage.
“We didn’t deserve it,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “You can see when we started doing some good things and played down low, we got some offensive zone time, but too little, too late.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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