WASHINGTON _ With a sputtering offense most of this season, the Islanders have needed one of their goaltenders to steal a game or two.
Enter Jaroslav Halak on Thursday night. With his team having flown in and gotten to their hotel here well after 2 a.m. following Wednesday's win over the Penguins at Barclays Center, Halak _ who flew ahead of the team earlier Wednesday _ stepped to the spotlight.
His 38 saves clamped down on the Capitals and Halak's teammates produced three goals in a 4:28 span early in the third for a 3-0 Islanders win, their season-high third straight.
"Our goaltenders need to play big," Jack Capuano said. "Earlier in the year they were struggling and if you look around the league, the teams that are winning are getting real good goaltending. Overall tonight I thought we played real well and Jaro made some big saves."
Halak stopped all 22 in the first 40 minutes of a scoreless game and had a bit of clock luck on his side. As the seconds wound down in the first period, Justin Williams appeared to beat the horn with a tap-in off the rush, but a review showed the clock hitting all zeroes just a moment before the puck fully crossed the line.
The Islanders started to wilt a bit after taking too many penalties to give Alex Ovechkin and his pals lots of chances, none more so than in the opening minutes of the third, when Johnny Boychuk took a delay of game minor to give the Caps their fifth power play of the night.
Ovechkin uncorked three of his patented off-wing blasts during that advantage. One hit the post and Halak, moving well and playing aggressively, stopped the other two. Soon after that power play ended, Casey Cizikas got past Dmitri Orlov and sprung Shane Prince on a breakaway and his quick wrister beat Braden Holtby to open the scoring at 3:15.
By the 7:43 mark the Isles were ahead by three for the second straight night. Josh Bailey and John Tavares created a couple chances in tight. Brock Nelson, just off the bench, raced onto the puck and slammed it through Holtby and two Caps defenders for a 2-0 lead.
A minute after that Andrew Ladd fed Jason Chimera, who shelved a backhand on the rush that sent a healthy portion of the Verizon Center customers to the exits.
"It's amazing _ some games we get so many chances, like last night, and there's posts, pucks laying in the crease that don't go over the line," said Prince, who hit two posts on Wednesday. "We took advantage of our opportunities tonight and Jaro shut the door."
Wednesday's blown 3-0 lead and pulled-out-of-the-fire 5-3 win over the Penguins gave the Isles some confidence, though Thursday's starting goaltender missed all the fuss.
"I went to sleep after the second," Halak said. "I wanted to get a good rest."
He didn't miss his team finally producing a few goals for him _ Thursday was the first time in his last six starts the Islanders scored more than two _ and Halak did the rest for his 40th career shutout and the Isles' first of the season.
"We won three in a row, but there's still some things to be cleaned up," Halak said. "Still, it's a good feeling."
