Caps win 4th consecutive, remain red hot

I really have no idea what to make of this Capitals team.

Tonight, they fell behind 3-0 and then 4-1, but rally to defeat the New York Islanders in New York 5-4 in a shootout.  The win puts the Capitals at 78 points, now 4 points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres and six points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets for the eighth playoff spot.  The win also allowed the Capitals to keep pace with the Florida Panthers, just 1 point behind, as Florida took a commanding 4-2 lead late over Toronto tonight.

The win was fueled by the captain, Alex Ovechkin, who scored his 27th and 28th goals on the season and notched a back hand tally on the shootout.  It was a 2 point night for Great 8 on 5 shots on net.  Washington also got markers from Mike Knuble and Dmitri Orlov.

Washington send Alexander Semin, Alex Ovechkin, and Dmitro Orlov tot he ice for the shootout.  Semin missed, but was followed by a marker from Ovi.  In a weird move, Dale Hunter sent out 19 year old rookie defenseman Orlov for the third shootout shot and Orlov lost control of the puck.  Matt Hendricks buried the winning shootout shot, increasing his shootout success to 5 out of 9 in his career.

Though not the prettiest game for Michal Neuvirth, he did shutout the Isles in the 3rd period and made some terrific saves in overtime to help lift the Capitals to the win.The Capitals did face 5 power plays from the Isles, while the Caps had no man advantage opportunities.

During this four game stretch, the Caps have managed 2 wins at Verizon Center and 2 on the road.

Multi-Point Scorers:

Keith Aucoin, 3 assists

Marcus Johansson, 2 assists

Alex Ovechkin, 2 goals