UNIONDALE, N.Y. – The Washington Capitals had already taken to calling Nassau Coliseum’s visiting dressing room a sauna, even before the horde of cameras stampeded through the doors late Tuesday night and ratcheted up the temperature another few degrees. They had just evened their series with the New York Islanders with a 2-1 overtime victory, emerged from Long Island with a split and changed the Eastern Conference quarterfinals into a best-of-three, with two games inside their building. Once the shrieks and celebration settled, they were warmed by the prospect of returning home.
“Yeah, I think we can hopefully build some momentum off that,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said.