Capitals win Game 5, put Islanders on brink of elimination

The Washington Capitals took a 3-2 series lead on the New York Islanders Thursday night after a decisive 5-1 victory in Game 5. This sets up an interesting Game 6 on Saturday where a Washington win would not only eliminate the Islanders, but also close out Nassau Coliseum for good.

For the fourth time in the series, the Islanders struck first when Josh Bailey beat Braden Holtby 5:48 into the opening period. But that would be the only highlight for New York’s offense. While Jaroslav Halak (30 saves) did all he could, the Capitals’ push was too great and Washington woud score five unanswered goals, including a pair from rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov.

With the Capitals holding a 3-1 lead early in the third period, Kuznetsov put the game out of reach with his second on the night after a lovely backhand:

Washington’s fifth and final goal from Jason Chimera just summed up the entire night for the Islanders and was the the final bit of action for Halak:

In the aftermath of Tom Wilson's big hit on Lubomir Visnovsky in Game 4 that knocked the Islanders' defenseman out indefinitely, the two sides each had their takes on the play. And in the first period, Anders Lee dropped the gloves with Wilson. Later, when the game became out of reach, things got testy.

Midway through the third, two seconds after Matt Martin was tossed, Cal Clutterbuck was given a minor and 10-minute misconduct after this slash on Brooks Laich:

Via Steph:

Casey Cizikas got his own little bit of revenge on Wilson with this stick adjustment:

Again, via Steph:

The series now shifts back to Long Island for Game 6 on Saturday. What was a raucous atmosphere in Games 3 and 4 at Nassau Coliseum could turn into a building full of nervous energy with the Islanders a loss away from being eliminated and saying goodbye forever to their 43-year old arena.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy

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