WASHINGTON - -For the better part of two weeks, the Washington Capitals had been eking out wins over opponents they should have beaten convincingly. On Friday night, it caught up to them on home ice against one of the NHL's worst clubs.
The Capitals surrendered a one-goal lead late in the second period, then defenseman Mark Streit of the New York Islanders hammered a shot past goaltender Jos? Theodore 53 seconds into overtime to hand the Capitals a humbling, miscue-riddled 4-3 defeat.
The victory was only the Islanders' third of the season and it halted Washington's six-game wining streak, stunning a capacity crowd at Verizon Center.
Forward Tomas Fleischmann, in his second game back from a blood clot in his leg, scored two goals, the second of which came on the power play and gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 3 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the second period.
But the Capitals gave the goal right back when Frans Nielsen scored his second goal of the game from the top of the circles. It was the third-liner's first career two-goal game.
Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau defended his team's effort, saying it was better than Thursday's in Atlanta, where they hung on for an ugly 4-3 win.
For the second straight game, the Capitals' top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin dazzled fans with beautiful passes. But the trio also appeared more intent on making the highlight shows rather than scoring goals.
"I thought they came wanting to play," Boudreau said. "But they were way too fancy and way too cute. They could have had four or five goals if they were really sharp. But they weren't."
Boudreau conceded that he considered disbanding the line after a three-on-one late in the first period didn't yield a single shot on goalie Dwayne Roloson.
It wasn't all bad for the Capitals. The power play scored twice for the second straight game, giving the previously beleaguered unit five goals in the past three games. And there was Fleischmann's performance. Besides his two goals, he had a number of other scoring chances that just missed.
