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BOX SCORE
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Washington coach Ron Wilson is never satisfied.
|  | | The Islanders' Garry Galley gets the best of this first-period collision with Steve Konowalchuk. |
Now that the Capitals have finally discovered their offense,
Wilson is searching for more defense.
Andrei Nikolishin's second goal of the game and Washington's
third on the power play -- with 5:38 left in regulation Saturday
night -- gave the Capitals a 4-4 tie with the New York Islanders.
The Capitals have scored 11 goals in their last three games
after getting just eight in their first five. But even though the
Capitals moved into a first-place tie with Carolina in the
Southeast Division, Wilson is more concerned with the defensive
problems he saw against New York.
"I don't care about our offense, it's defense," Wilson said.
"So what, we scored three power-play goals, but we didn't stop the
other team. Unless we stop the other team, we aren't going to win
games."
Washington held a 42-26 advantage over New York in shots. Wilson
thought the Capitals worried too much about scoring and forgot
about defense.
"We didn't clear the front of the net at all," Wilson said.
"They threw the puck in from the point, and on three of our goals,
our (players) were on the wrong sides of people and they put
rebounds in or helped screen our goaltender."
The Capitals seemed to fade a bit after a dominating first
period when they outshot New York 17-4 and held a 2-0 lead.
"Maybe we were thinking we were a better team than they are,"
Nikolishin said. "In this league, you don't have bad or good
teams. Everybody is at a good level and you have to show up for
every game."
Nikolishin finished with two goals and an assist in the game and
scored the game-tying goal against John Vanbiesbrouck off a pass in
front from Joe Murphy. The goal made the Capitals 3-for-8 with the
man advantage.
"Our penalty-killing took a beating over the last couple of
nights," New York coach Butch Goring said. "We got a little tired
out there in a couple of those situations, and when you're killing
that many off, you're going to get tired and make bad decisions."
Ulf Dahlen also had two goals and an assist, Murphy had three
assists and Sergei Gonchar added two.
Brad Isbister led the Islanders with two power-play goals and an
assist. The Islanders had scored just once on 31 extra-man chances
coming into the game to rank last in the NHL.
Mariusz Czerkawski also had a goal and two assists for the
Islanders.
Washington found scoring chances throughout the game, but
Vanbiesbrouck robbed the Capitals several times while finishing
with 38 saves.
The Capitals scored first. After Nikolishin fired a pass
from Dahlen past Vanbiesbrouck with 6:48 left in the first period,
Dahlen scored on the power play to make it 2-0 with 3:10 remaining.
But New York scored three goals on five shots during a 6:20
stretch midway through the second period.
Isbister scored two power-play goals 2:12 apart before Roman
Hamrlik gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead by beating Olaf Kolzig with a
blast from just inside the blue line. Kolzig appeared screened on
the shot that came with 7:07 left in the period.
Dahlen tied the game at 3:40 of the third period, scoring from
the doorstep after Adam Oates gave him a perfect centering pass.
Czerkawski gave the Islanders a brief lead with 7:25 left, but
Nikolishin tied it less than two minutes later.
Game notes
Washington's top line of Oates, Peter Bondra and Steve
Konowalchuk combined for 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in
the two previous games. ... New York needed nearly 11 minutes to
get its first shot. The Capitals already had nine by that point.
... Washington's 17 first-period shots was its high for one period
this season. ... Oates' third-period assist gave him 901 and tied
him with Bryan Trottier for 11th on the NHL career list. ... The
Capitals now are 14-0-2 in their last 16 games against the
Islanders.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
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Toronto 2
Calgary 1
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Carolina 2
Atlanta 6
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NY Islanders 4
Washington 4
Detroit 5
Buffalo 4
New Jersey 7
Tampa Bay 2
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Columbus 2
Dallas 4
Los Angeles 3
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Chicago 0
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