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Ovechkin nets pair as Capitals edge Islanders

Dec 17, 2008 - 4:25 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Reigning Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin scored twice - including the game-winner with 11 seconds remaining in overtime as the Washington Capitals recorded their fourth straight win with a 5-4 triumph over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich and defenseman Milan Jurcina also scored for Washington, which improved to 6-1-0 in its last seven games.

Nicklas Backstrom had two assists and Brent Johnson finished with 35 saves for the Capitals.

"He came up with a great save with 30 seconds to go," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said of Johnson denying Trent Hunter.

"That's what good goalies do - make great saves at the right times. It gave me a Gerry Cheevers reminder - winning 7-6 and making the big save when it counts."

Richard Park had a goal and two assists and veteran Doug Weight, Jon Sim and defenseman Andy Sutton also tallied for New York, which lost its seventh in a row and fell to 1-8-1 in its last 10 games.

Defenseman Mark Streit notched three assists and Joey MacDonald turned aside 35 shots en route to losing for the seventh time in eight starts.

With overtime winding down, Ovechkin accepted a feed from Backstrom inside the right faceoff circle. The talented Russian skated into the slot and wristed a shot past MacDonald for his team-leading 19th goal of the season.

"I tried to find the open space and (Backstrom) gave me a nice pass," Ovechkin said. "I had a lot of time to shoot and to see where (MacDonald) was going. Seconds before, I thought I had the winner, but the referee said it hit two posts."

"The puck bounced over the defenseman's stick, and I saw Alex open," Backstrom said. "I had a good view of him lining it up, and putting it in. He has a picture-perfect shot and has patience."

MacDonald simply tipped his cap to Ovechkin after the game.

"He was at the hash marks, and fired a picture-perfect shot," MacDonald said. "I was at the top of the crease, and did exactly what I wanted to do to stop it. There's not too many times he is going to miss with that opportunity."

The Islanders erased a two-goal deficit by scoring twice in just over six minutes in the third period.

With his team trailing, 4-2, Sutton scored with 8:41 remaining in the contest and Sim leveled the contest with 2:13 left with his first tally since being placed on waivers last week.

"We haven't had a third period like that in a while," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "I think our players identified with it over the last two days in practice and talked about it before the game.

"From our side of it, it was something we should definitely build on."