WASHINGTON (AP) – Jason Blake and Petteri Nokelainen both had a goal and an assist and Oleg Kvasha added three assists to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Alexei Yashin, Trent Hunter and Mark Parrish also scored for New York, which scored on its first two shots of the game. The Islanders, who have won two of three overall, had been 1-12-2 in their last 15 games at MCI Center.

Matt Bradley scored twice and Steve Eminger added a goal for the Capitals, who were playing their sixth game in nine nights. Washington has lost two straight and four of five.

Alexander Ovechkin, the first pick in the 2004 draft, had an assist and has a point in each of the Capitals’ six games.

Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro left the game 11:09 into the second period after being shaken up while making a headlong dive to stop a drive down the slot by Jeff Halpern.

Garth Snow replaced him and made 13 saves in his first action of the season, allowing Bradley’s second goal with 37 seconds to play.

New York exploited a shaky start by goalie Brent Johnson, scoring on its first two shots – and three of its first five – to build the early lead.

Yashin redirected a feed from Brad Lukowich past Johnson 2:10 into the game. Hunter scored 1:13 later, sweeping the puck from the left corner and bouncing it in off Johnson’s right leg.

Blake made it 3-0 with a short-handed goal at 8:24.

Bradley circled the net, pulled up near the left circle and wristed a shot past DiPietro at 9:42 to make it 3-1 and Eminger pulled the Capitals within a goal 7:52 into the second period, seven seconds after a Washington power play expired.

Nokelainen recorded his first NHL goal 1:03 into the third period and Parrish made it 5-2 1:13 later.

Notes: Eminger had a goal and an assist, his first career multipoint game. … The Islanders failed to score a power-play goal for the first time this season. … Halpern returned to action after missing Wednesday’s game at Carolina while observing Yom Kippur. … Johnson made his first start for the Capitals after Olaf Kolzig was in net for the first five games.

AP-ES-10-13-05 2156EDT


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