Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders take the ice at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first round best-of-seven series as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Washington looks to even up the set by stealing a game on the road while New York hopes to notch a 3-1 stranglehold on the series by taking care of home ice.
These teams have traded wins so far, with the Islanders taking Game 1on Wednesday by a 4-1 score and the Capitals winning Game 2 Friday by a 4-3 margin in the nation's capital. New York then dropped Washington 2-1 in overtime at the Coliseum on Sunday.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
The Islanders rewarded a raucous home crowd in Game 3 when John Tavares scored just 15 seconds into overtime to give New York a 2-1 win and a 2-1 series lead.
While the Islanders moved one step close to their first playoff series win since 1993, they know the job is only half done and they have to quickly move on from the jubilation they experienced Sunday.
"You have to put it behind us and have the same effort in Game 4," defenseman Johnny Boychuk said via NHL.com. "The crowd was really loud and helped us out. You have to use this home ice and hopefully get another win, because it's an important one."
Boychuk is a huge reason for New York's success as he has kept Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (one goal) in check, including a diving swipe of the puck late in Game 3, and has contributed all over the ice.
The Capitals will need Ovechkin, who led the NHL this season with 53 goals, and their offense to get going in this series after notching only six goals over three games, including just one tally apiece in Games 1 and 3.
Washington learned the hard way that it only takes one bounce for the dynamic of a series to change.
"That's the thing about a series, is every game you go, it gets more and more important," defenseman Matt Niskanen told the Washington Post. "Three-1 sounds a lot different than 2-2. We've got to steal one in this building at some point. Biggest game of the year for us."
Nicklas Backstrom scored his first goal of the postseason in the loss for Washington while Kyle Okposo netted the opening marker of Game 3, his second of the playoffs.
Okposo also knocked Eric Fehr out of the contest with a hit in Game 3 and the forward will miss the next two games due to an upper-body injury. The Islanders are still without defenseman Travis Hamonic due to an undisclosed injury.
In between the pipes, New York turns to Jaroslav Halak, who has allowed six goals on 85 shots through the first three games of this set.
Washington counters with Braden Holtby in the crease and he has surrendered five goals on 68 shots through two games and missed Game 2 due to illness.
The Capitals look to even up the series while the Islanders seek a commanding 3-1 lead when the puck drops on Game 4 of this Round 1 Stanley Cup playoff series live from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
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