Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images vis Sportsnet
The Washington Capitals have had some very interesting games take place on Veteran’s Day throughout their history. Their game of November 11, 2009 against the New York Islanders was no exception.
Going into the game, the Caps had a record of 10-3-4 and led the Southeast Division. The Islanders were 6-6-5 which, while mediocre, was an improvement over the prior year when they finished in dead last in the NHL and had won the draft lottery for that season, giving them the right to choose John Taveras.
The Caps had a relatively lengthy injury list, which included Alex Ovechkin (left shoulder strain), Boyd Gordon (sore back), Jeff Schultz (lower body), Mike Green (upper body), and Alexander Semin (wrist). Ovechkin, Gordon, and Schultz would miss the game. Semin and Green played in spite of their ailments, with Semin wearing a brace on his wrist. The Islanders, meanwhile, had the following players out: Kyle Okposo due to swine flu , Doug Weight with an upper body injury, and Radek Martinek, who had a torn ACL.
Other drama concerning the Caps included the story where Richard Thomas, a Florida drug dealer who had earlier admitted that he had supplied the Capitals with steroids, pleaded guilty in a plea deal with prosecutors. There was also a story about the Caps potentially lending center Michael Nylander to the KHL as a way of removing his cap hit from the team.
The goalie matchup was Jose Theodore for the Caps against Duane Roloson for the Islanders.
First Period
Just eight seconds into the game, Alexander Semin scored his eighth goal of the season to stake the Caps to an early 1-0 lead. He riflled a shot past Roloson after Brendan Morrison stole the puck from an Islanders defenseman on the opening faceoff. This goal tied the franchise record for fasted goal since the start of game that Gaetan Duchene set in 1987. The goal allowed Semin to break a six-game scoring drought.
The lead lasted less than a minute. At 1:08, Matt Moulson of the Islanders collected a long rebound and snapped a shot which got past Theodore in goal to tie the game at 1-1. This game-tying goal was his eighth of the year. He was assisted by Mark Streit.
The Islanders then had two more unanswered goals. Streit gave New York the lead at 5:10, getting assists by Bruno Gervais and Rob Schremp. Sean Bergenheim then beat Theodore with a backhander on a breakaway to make it 3-1 at 6:54. The Islanders now led 3-1. Given the Islanders had scored three goals on just five shots, Head Coach, Bruce Boudreau opted to replace Jose Theodore with Semyon Varlamov.
The Caps closed the deficit to 3-2 when Tomas Fleischmann scored on the power play at 13:42 most than a minutes into a holding penalty by Jon Sim. Nicklas Backstrom made a strong move to the net and sent a pass straight to his winger, Fleischmann, who scored. Mike Knuble had the secondary assist. This was Fleischmann’s sixth goal of the year and his six in seven games. (Note: he had missed most of the first month of the season due to deep vein thrombosis.) The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Islanders going into first intermission.
Photo: Getty Images
Second Period
The Islanders had two penalties early in the middle frame. They killed the interference penalty assessed to Tim Jackman at :16 but did not kill the tripping penalty assessed to Josh Bailey at 4:19. Alexander Semin snapped a pass from Green and scored his second goal of the game and his ninth of the season over a minute into the penalty at 5:35. This goal tied the game at 3-3.
The Caps took the lead at 16:46 when Eric Fehr beat Roloson on a spinning backhand shot. The score was now 4-3.
Third Period
The score remained 4-3 until Trent Hunter of the Islanders scored a power-play goal with 2:08 left in regulation to tie the game. He was assisted by John Tavares and Frans Nielson. The Caps had not taken any penalties until third period when they took three. They killed a penalty by Brendan Morrison early in the period. They also killed a holding penalty on David Steckel at 15:10, but were unable to kill the last penalty, a boarding penalty earned by Milan Jurcina at 17:14, just four seconds after the Caps’ had killed the prior penalty. Game was 4-4 and proceeded to Overtime.
Photo: Getty Images
Overtime
There were no goals in overtime so the game proceeded to a shootout. In the first round, Backstrom shot for the Caps, without success but Jeff Tambellini then scored. In the second round, Alexander Semin got a shootout goal but John Tavares missed. The shootout continued on for round after round, with no player from either team converting. Finally, in the eleventh round, Capitals’ team Captain, Chris Clark, scored in the shootout, giving them a 5-4 victory as the shot by the Islanders’ shooter in that round was saved.
Link to game’s shootout.
Varlamov was the winning goaltender, having made 24 saves out of the 25 shots he saved. The Capitals themselves had 41 shots on goal, a season high. He also made eight saves in the shootout and was now 2-0 in shootouts. The Islanders’ shooters had missed the net for two of their shootout shots.
Post-Game Comments
There were plenty of post-game comments. Boudreau discussed the goalie change. “[Theodore] looked a little rattled, and he looked a little down. The last time he was pulled, Varly came in and shut the door, and I thought he could do it again.”
Semin, who had scored two regulation goals plus one shootout goal, spoke about his game through an interpreter. “I was just skating back into the goal very fast. I just grabbed the first thing I could to stop my movement into the net.” He continued, “I had a lot of moments to score. I couldn’t capitalize on all of them.”
His wrist was still tightly wrapped due to the earlier injury through which he was playing. He had made 11 shots on goal during the game.
Boudreau commented on Semin, “He looked like he wanted to play. When he wants to play, he could’ve had six. He’s scary good when he’s motivated.”
New York Islanders coach, Scott Gordon, commented, “That third period was huge for us. To be able to draw the penalties against a team that prides themselves on their third periods, it was good to see us come back and have that power play come up big.”
Aftermath
Semin’s wrist continued to bother him for the next two games, which included a win against the Minnesota Wild two days later and a loss against the New Jersey Devils on November 14, and he did not score in either of those games. When Ovechkin finally returned to the lineup on November 17 after healing from his shoulder injury, Semin left the team’ road trip to consult a doctor about the wrist. The remainder of November was an up and down month for the Capitals but they closed out the month with three consecutive wins.
Chris Clark, the Captain and shootout hero of the game, was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets soon after Christmas in exchange for Jason Chimera which resulted in a new Captain being appointed; i.e. Alex Ovechkin.
Further Reading
Sportsnet: Capitals Beat Islanders
Washington Post Game Story — 11/11/2009
Capitals Insider — Caps 5 Isles 4 Shootout
Capitals Insider — Caps Collective Health on Upswing
Capitals Insider — Morning Roundup 11th Round
Box Score From Hockey Reference
Box Score From NHL.Com
Newsday — Islanders Battle Back to Earn-Point Against Caps
Game Recap From ESPN
By Diane Doyle