The Washington Capitals submitted a poor performance on Tuesday, falling, 3-0, to the New York Islanders at home to snap a three-game winning streak. Washington fired just 17 shots in the loss and were consistently unable to come up with good opportunities to score.
The Islanders scored once in every period. John Tavares scored his 17th early in the first period, and P.A. Parenteau scored the other two. His third-period goal on the power play with 7:22 remaining in the contest effectively sealed the game in New York's favor.
Washington has been able to win in the past while being outshot due to the brilliance of Tomas Vokoun, but it wasn't meant to be on this night.
Unfortunately for the Washington Capitals, the second period was not much different than the first as the New York Islanders dominated play and took a 2-0 lead into the dressing room.
The Islanders controlled the flow of play both offensively and physically. P.A. Parenteau put New York up 2-0 at 6:05 when his snap shot beat Tomas Vokoun for his eighth goal of the season.
After that, the Islanders continued to press, giving the Caps little room to maneuver, but even when the Caps did get some breathing room, they failed to maintain any momentum until the end of the period. A spirited shift from the second line of Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer and Mike Knuble brought both the team and fans to life and the Caps eventually earned a power play, which will continue into the third period.
The Caps had five shots in both the first and second periods for a total of 10, while the Islanders have 18 through 30 minutes.
Three penalties for the Caps cost them as John Tavares' power play goal has the Islanders on top after 20 minutes.
Tavares extended his point streak to 10 games and gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 12:05. With Karl Alzner in the penalty box for holding, Tavares tapped in a cross-ice slap pass from Mark Streit for his 17th goal of the season. The Islanders' 1-0 lead was the first time that the Caps trailed at home since December 13 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Washington committed two penalties after that, starting with Jeff Halpern's tripping penalty at 17:27. Just 21 seconds later, Jason Chimera received two minutes for slashing, a penalty that the Caps will have to kill off to start the second period.
Shots are 10-5 in favor of New York.
For more on the Caps, visit SB Nation's Caps blog, Japers' Rink.
