The New York Islanders had a difficult time closing out the regular season as they stumbled from March into April. But they have started out the series well against the Washington Capitals as they had a 2-1 advantage heading into game 4 of the series on Tuesday Night.
Game 4 started off with a couple of goals in the opening period. Alex Ovechkin got his second goal of the series to try and lead the Capitals back into a tied series, lighting up the lamp with assists from both John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom. It's pretty interesting though since he had just gotten out of the penalty box about 40 seconds earlier for a 2 minute minor for tripping Nikolay Kulemin. It appeared that the Capitals were going to take the lead into the first intermission, but with just 13 seconds left, Casey Cizikas scored his first goal of the series after some great passes by both Cal Clutterbuck and Nick Leddy.
The second period was a rather quiet one as the Islanders would get 15 shots on goal but were denied on three straight power plays. Tom Wilson had 2 straight penalties and then there was another on Mike Green. Braden Holtby was definitely having to stop more shots on road ice then his counterpart in the other goal Jaroslav Halak.
Anders Lee gave the Capitals the their only power play of regulation in the third period. But this would lead to NHL playoff hockey, which is the best type of hockey. Sudden death and there is no end until the puck crosses the little red line.
The game would go a little bit past halfway through overtime when Nicklas Backstrom would score his third goal of the series to tie the series up at 2 games a piece. He was assisted by Joel Ward and Alex Ovechkin on the goal. This gives the Washington Capitals home ice advantage again as they head back home to play Game 5 of the series.