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Washed over: Caps control Isles, tie series 1-1

John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson

John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson

AP

Things looked dire for the Washington Capitals more than once in Game 2 against the New York Islanders on Friday night. They kept grinding away, though, and their reward is a 4-3 win and a 1-1 series tie.

There were times when one wondered if Braden Holtby’s sick day might cost the Capitals big-time. Philipp Grubauer allowed three goals on a modest 21 shots for the Isles, but most importantly, he stopped all seven in the third period.

New York generated 2-0 and 3-1 leads that may or may not have instilled a false sense of security.

Ultimately, the Capitals’ biggest names made the difference. Alex Ovechkin notched a sigh-of-relief goal to close the gap to within one while Nicklas Backstrom’s three-point night included a nifty bit of one-against-all:

During about a 12-minute span from late in the second period to midway through the third, the Capitals scored three unanswered goals to turn the game on its head.

Chalk it up to score effects if you’d like, but the Capitals controlled much of the play, as you can see from this Natural Stat Trick graph.

natstat

Whatever way you slice it, the Capitals avoided a dire situation as this series is now locked at 1-1 with things switching to Long Island.