Justin Williams: Slump won't 'break me'

Justin Williams will continue to rely on what's tried and true.

Stuck on two goals with his 4.8 percent shooting rate through 22 games in his second season with the Washington Capitals, Williams has toggled between visible and admitted frustration over the past several weeks. At the same time, he remains confident things will turn around.

"I'm getting tested right now, and I know I'm going to pass because I'm not going to go away," Williams told Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

"I'm going to keep doing the things I've done my whole career that have made me successful, and I'm going to continue to do those. I know that eventually they'll work and they'll pay off."

He added: "I'm not going to let anything break me."

There have been moments to test this resolve, however. In the waning moments of the first period Thursday night versus the New York Islanders, Williams charged to the far post and steered an exact cross-ice feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov into the back of the net, which appeared to beat the buzzer.

But when it failed to survive the on-ice review, the goal was taken off the board, and television cameras captured the perfect snapshot of Williams' season.