Caps Win despite Weak Five-on-Five Play

On this holiday weekend, the Washington Capitals rose at the ungodly hour of 1 PM to visit the New York Islanders. It went precisely like you thought it wouldn’t: winning despite weak five-on-five play and as of the power play.

On an early game power play,Alex ovechkin found Tom Wilson for a quick tap to make it 1-0. Same story in the second, with Wilson either the benefactor or beneficiary, not sure which, of a rare Ilya Sorokin misplay.

Bo Horvat won a duel for a rebound to make it 2-1 with six minutes left in the game. The waning minutes were packed with icing calls,but the Caps buckled down. Aliaksei Protas chased a would-be icing to earn the first of two empty-netters. The second belonged to Ovi.

Caps win!

• We got another look at 18-year-old Matthew Schaeffer, currently the presumptive leader in the Calder Trophy race. schaeffer is marvelous to watch, and I liked him even more when he mixed it up with Ryan Leonard, in the running for the Calder Trophy in our hearts at least. Leonard drew a penalty from Schaeffer, and the Caps converted on it thanks to Alex Ovechkin’s ability to absorb attention.

• The goal belonged to Tom Wilson, scorer of two today. Wilson is on a five-game point streak and has five goals in last 10 games.
• Far and away Washington’s…