Islanders sink Caps 4-3 in OT

Mark Streit converted John Tavares’ beautiful centering pass, and the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime Friday night at Verizon Center.

Tavares had several chances to put up points in the game, and even slammed his stick in frustration at one point, but the first pick in the 2009 draft made the key play, outworking Nicklas Backstrom and Shaone Morrisonn behind the net and feeding Streit 53 seconds into the extra session.

Alex Ovechkin gave the Caps a 1-0 lead 4:41 into the first period. Washington had a four-minute power play after New York’s Kyle Okposo was tagged with a double minor for high sticking, and Ovechkin’s blast from the top of the offensive zone squirted through goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

It was Ovechkin’s league-leading 14th goal of the year, and it matches his personal best for a calendar month (he also had 14 in March 2008). Defenseman Mike Green had the primary assist on the play, pushing his points streak to eight games. It is the second longest streak in the NHL this season behind Tampa Bay forward Marty St. Louis’ 10-game stretch.

Okposo atoned for his earlier gaffe by bringing the Islanders even later in the first with his third goal of the year at 10:37.

Washington’s Tomas Fleischmann and New York’s Frans Nielsen each collected a pair of goals in the middle period. Nielsen gave the Islanders the lead at 7:12 when Green whiffed on an outlet pass and he was there to scoop it up and snap a shot past Theodore.

Fleischmann had the next two — the first after Chris Clark intercepted a Roloson pass behind the net and the netminder couldn’t get back into position in time at 8:50. It was his first of the season after missing the opening 11 games with a blood clot in his leg.

Fleischmann added his second of the year less than eight minutes later, putting home the rebound of a Green point shot despite being harassed in front of the net.

As the Islanders had done earlier in the period, the Caps gave one right back. Nielsen added his second goal of the night at 17:50, 67 seconds after Fleischmann’s second.

Note — Boyd Gordon (back) and John Erskine (hand) both missed their seventh straight game. Eric Fehr (ribs) and Quintin Laing (swine flu) were out for the second consecutive contest.