Capitals outlast Islanders on Evgeny Kuznetsov's late goal

WASHINGTON - The Washington Capitals picked a good time to play one of their most complete games of the season.

Now the challenge will be continuing the rugged, possession style they exhibited in a 2-1 Game 7 victory against the New York Islanders at Verizon Center in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Monday night. The Capitals visit the New York Rangers in the second round, which will likely begin Thursday.

"Phenomenal game," goalie Braden Holtby said. "That's the best I've seen us play - everybody. It was an effort that probably should've been better than 2-1. From start to finish, that's the game we've been trying to groom all year."

The "best" includes stifling a high-powered offense to 11 shots on net, not letting up after their lead disappeared minutes into the third period and wearing down the Islanders' heavy lifters -- captain John Tavares and standout defensemen Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk.

"When it gets down to the brass tacks, I think we got to some of their D early in the series and it paid some dividends down in the end," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.

Rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov converted for the game-winner at 12:42 of the third, showing the patience and poise to wait on an outstretched Jaroslav Halak that only the best possess.

The Islanders blew their defensive coverages and the 22-year-old cashed in for his third playoff goal. He had 11 during the regular season.

"(Kuznetsov is) constantly in the good (video) clips of where he's supposed to be in the D-zone, support on the ice," Holtby said. "He's a kid that is very intelligent and really cares about improving, not just scoring goals. There isn't a better guy in this dressing room to score that."

"I don't care about the points," the understated Kuznetsov said. "I care about the next round."

The Capitals' game plan of making the Islanders uncomfortable bodes well for them against the Rangers, who are one of the fastest teams in the league and thrive on quick-strike offense. Washington managed the puck in the neutral zone, played mistake-free hockey and won nearly every puck battle.

Tavares, who finished with 86 points during the regular season, was a nonfactor. That's what happens when you are forced to defend all night. Tavares said the Islanders "didn't want to make a mistake."

"I think our execution was spot-on," Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. "They maybe had two or three rushes through the neutral zone that maybe we'd like to do something different on. Over 60 minutes, three rushes for a team with that size, speed skill -- that's pretty darn good."

New York was forced to rely on Leddy and Boychuk even more by the end of the series, as it was without three regular defensemen (Lubomir Visnovsky, Travis Hamonic and Calvin de Haan). The defense was not sharp and the team struggled to make the first pass out of the zone.

"They were tired, Orpik said. "You could see it on their faces, some of those guys played so many minutes. It just took their toll on them."

Trotz understands the series wasn't a perfect one for the Capitals. But they made adjustments and stuck to a game plan that left little doubt about the arc of their play moving forward.

"Sometimes failure shouldn't be your undertaker, it should be your teacher," Trotz said. "We had some failures in this series, and it taught us things. ...

"We weren't going to let that game go - even when we got scored on."

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