Click here to subscribe today or Login.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Islanders captain John Tavares was still attempting to gather his bearings after being leveled in the corner, when he heard the familiar — and welcome — roar go up inside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum for what could be the last time.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” the orange towel-waving crowd yelled in unison as part of its traditional goal chant.
Sparked by Tavares’ rush, Nikolay Kulemin scored the go-ahead goal with 9:27 left in a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday that forced a seventh game in the first-round playoff series.
When did Tavares know the Isles had scored?
“Just when I saw everyone going crazy,” Tavares said. “I’m just happy it went in.”
Tavares had a goal and assist, Nick Leddy had two assists, and Cal Clutterbuck scored into an empty net with 53 seconds left.
Now the two Metropolitan Division rivals who finished the season with 101 points each will meet Monday night in Washington to decide who advances to face the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers.
Tavares and the Isles were excited to reward their home fans with a win.
The next objective is to advance to the second round and deliver at least two more home games before the Islanders make the 28-mile-move west to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next season.
“We want to keep this thing going. We want to be able to play in front of them even more,” defenseman Brian Strait said. “To not keep it going, it doesn’t matter. It’s a failure.”
John Carlson scored for the Capitals, who had won the previous two games, including a 5-1 win on Thursday.
“To me, at the end of the day, their desperation level was higher than ours,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “Now we’re both desperate.”
Kulemin’s goal capped a frantic series of plays, which began with a shoving match between numerous players in front of the benches.
Seeing the confusion at the benches, Tavares gathered the puck in his own zone and took off up the middle. Attempting to split two defenders, Tavares failed to get a shot off before being bowled over in the left corner by Alex Ovechkin and Karl Alzner.
No one seemed to notice that the puck squirted to Leddy at the left boards. He then fed Kulemin, who was all alone in front. Kulemin went across the top of the crease and wrapped the puck inside the left post.
Kulemin got to the front of the net after bullying his way through the crowd at the benches.
“People were grabbing each other,” Kulemin said. “There was a lot of stuff going on that shift, and I just saw the open space in front of the net and went there.”
Trotz placed part of the blame on Ovechkin for following Tavares into the corner.
“If we would’ve made the right read, we probably wouldn’t have been in that situation, a one-on-one with the goalie,” Trotz said.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby was surprised by how open Kulemin was.
“I’ve never seen a play like that, playing 2-on-2-hockey,” Holtby said. “You have to keep your composure a little better, not double-coverage. You don’t plan for that stuff. It’s tough to swallow.”
Red Wings 4, Lightning 0
TAMPA, Fla. — Petr Mrazek stopped 28 shots and Detroit rebounded from a disappointing loss to shut down Tampa Bay and take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.
Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller, Pavel Datsyuk and Danny DeKeyser scored for the Red Wings. They can close out the Eastern Conference matchup by winning Game 6 at home Monday night.
The shutout was the second of the series for the young Mrazek, who had no previous NHL playoff experience before being named Detroit’s starter over veteran Jimmy Howard. The 23-year-old goalie blanked the Lightning 3-0 in Game 3 at home and also had the only shutout against the league’s highest-scoring team during the regular season.
It was a frustrating evening for Tampa Bay, which rallied to win Game 4 on the road, evening the series after fizzling in Game 3 and being outplayed for 54 minutes before being rescued by Tyler Johnson on Thursday night.