UNIONDALE, N.Y. — This was not the game either the Islanders or Capitals expected to play, with two coaches who preach defense.
But it was great entertainment, especially the wide-open, wacky first period, with four more meetings upcoming between the teams this month.
Mathew Barzal had his third career hat trick, Jordan Eberle added two goals and the Islanders matched the East Division-leading Capitals with 50 points as they set a season high for goals in an 8-4 win on Thursday night at Nassau Coliseum.
The Islanders (23-10-7) opened a season-high, six-game homestand by snapping a two-game losing streak. It was their first win in four tries against the Capitals.
"I felt we could have had points in almost every game against them," coach Barry Trotz said before the game.
"We know there’s games to come against them as the month goes on," added Josh Bailey, who scored at 3:13 of a much-calmer third period. "They’ve kind of had our number thus far. We’ve still got opportunities here to get the wins."
The rollicking first period took little time to go full-out bizarre.
Just 30 seconds in, Capitals starting goalie Ilya Samsonov (18 saves) was forced into concussion protocol after teammate T.J. Oshie caught him high with his left shoulder as he skated behind the crease. Vitek Vanecek took over.
But the Capitals took a 1-0 lead at 1:01 on their first shot, a one-timer by defenseman John Carlson that sailed past Semyon Varlamov (18 saves). It marked the fifth straight game the Islanders have yielded the first goal.
But they snapped a streak of three straight games trailing by at least two goals as Leo Komarov sent a tape-to-tape cross-ice feed to the cutting Eberle to make it 1-1 at 5:02 on the Islanders’ first shot. Barzal carried the puck over the blue line to start the sequence.
Then, Barzal had the first of his jaw-dropping goals, skating the puck end-to-end and past, in order, Tom Wilson and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Nick Jensen before lifting a wrist shot from the right circle past Vanecek to make it 2-1 at 16:09.
He completed the hat trick at 18:54 of the third period, again at the crease.
Samsonov, having cleared protocol, was re-inserted by coach Peter Laviolette at 16:56 with Vanecek having allowed two goals on nine shots. But Brock Nelson knocked the puck in at the crease to make it 3-1 at 17:32. The Capitals got that right back when Lars Eller won an offensive zone faceoff and Daniel Sprong whippd it in at 17:54.
But jaw-dropping goal No. 2 from Barzal as he spun and shot with just his right arm on the stick from a sharp angle on the left at 18:53, made it 4-2. Samsonov allowed two goals on four shots in the first period.
Still, the teams combined for four goals in the second period, yet the middle frame felt tame compared to the opening period.
Casey Cizikas popped the puck over Samsonov — who had allowed three goals on six shots at that point — to make it 5-2 at 3:03. Varlamov stopped Alex Ovechkin’s power-play one-timer — a questionable too many men call against the Islanders — but the rebound bounced in off T.J. Oshie to bring the Capitals within 5-3 at 6:47.
Eberle’s second goal, finishing an odd-man rush off Barzal’s feed, made it 6-3 at 8:08. But Carlson scored his second with 58.9 seconds left in the second period, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence started by Sprong and Jakub Vrana as defensemen Andy Greene and Noah Dobson let Carlson go to the left post unchecked.
