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WASHINGTON – The Islanders were in charge, then the second period came.
Zdeno Chara scored for the first time with his new team to cap a second five-goal period, and the Washington Capitals returned to stun the New York Islanders with a 6-3 victory on Thursday night.
The Islanders led 3-0 before Washington scored four goals in 5:09. Conor Sheary scored his first two games with the Capitals, Garnet Hathaway equalized and John Carlson gave them the power play advantage.
Then Chara’s slapper just inside the blue line beat Semyon Varlamov clean, making it five unanswered goals in less than 10 minutes. The 43-year-old former Boston Bruins captain was mobbed by his teammates on the bench as Islanders players looked shocked at the turn of events.
“Very excited to have the first goal as a member of the Washington Capitals, but I got back on the bench to the guys right away because I just wanted to share that joy and excitement with them,” Chara said.
The Islanders were in charge after first-period goals from Oliver Wahlstrom, Casey Cizikas and captain Anders Lee. It looked like Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz’s decisions to replace Wahlstrom with badass Ross Johnston and mix up the lines were working after losing to the Capitals on a last-minute goal on Tuesday night.
Instead, the Islanders lost in settlement for the third straight game.
“You lose two games (in Washington) and get zero points and now you’re looking at a few teams,” Trotz said. “It ended up being a two game loss here for us.”
The Capitals set a franchise record starting the season with an eight-game scoring streak. They did so without five regular players: captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defender Dmitry Orlov and goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov missed a fourth game in a row due to COVID-19 protocols, and center Lars Eller was injured upper body.
“We felt great on our team, we felt great about the depth and the number of guys who could really step in and not only fill a role but also excel,” said Carlson.
Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves in his fifth straight start in the net, Tom Wilson scored an empty net with 18.7 seconds left and the Capitals went undefeated in regulation under first-year coach Peter Laviolette.
“A lot of teams don’t come back from 3-0,” Hathaway said. “It’s a big stepping stone for us, especially in the locker room and all the guys we have in our roster right now.
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