Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - Alexander Ovechkin scored twice, including the game-winner with 3:14 left in overtime as the Washington Capitals edged the New York Islanders, 2-1, at Nassau Coliseum.
Washington was awarded a power play after a slashing call on Brendan Witt at the 1:25 mark of the overtime. Sergei Fedorov skated the puck into the New York end and slammed on the brakes at the right circle. He fed a short pass over to Alexander Semin, who skated to the low right side and fed the puck out front for Ovechkin, who one-timed the puck home for his league-leading 31st goal of the season.
Jose Theodore posted 27 saves in the win for the Capitals, who have won their last three games and all three meetings this season with the Isles.
"(The Islanders) came, they really worked hard, and they caught us a little off-guard," Theodore said. "We didn't panic, we showed character, and we came away with the point in overtime, which is huge."
Kyle Okposo scored the lone goal while Yann Danis stopped 36 shots in the loss for the Islanders, who are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.
"At times we were a little sloppy defensively," Islanders head coach Scott Gordon said. "I thought we got better as the game went on in that regard. You're looking at a pretty talented offensive team. We were able to keep them to one goal in regulation, that's pretty good."
New York is just 2-17-2 since the start of December and has the worst record in the league at 12-29-4.
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The Capitals took a 1-0 lead at the 6:35 mark of the first period on the power play with Ovechkin's one-timer from the left circle on a feed from Mike Green.
Theodore stopped all 11 shots he faced in the first period while both goaltenders made all their saves in the second period with Theodore stopping eight and Danis making 12 saves.
New York had a two-man advantage in the third period and tied the game as Frans Nielsen fed a pass from the low right side to the left where Okposo slammed it home with 7:42 to play in regulation.
