Brock Nelson jumped off the bench and beat Holtby on the rebound of a Cal Clutterbuck shot at 2:36 of the first period, staking the Isles to that early 1-0 lead. It was the first time the Capitals trailed at any point in a span of five games.
Late in the first, Anders Lee jammed a puck home from under Holtby's pad, but officials ruled that Lee had pushed Holtby and the puck into the cage, and they waved off the goal for goaltender interference. Islanders coach Doug Weight issued a coach's challenge, alleging that the goal should have counted, but the original call was upheld and the Caps entered the second period down just one goal instead of two.
New York blueliner Calvin de Haan made a nifty backhand pass to feed Andrew Ladd for an easy back door tap-in off the rush just 36 seconds into the middle period, and just 58 seconds later New York notched its third goal.
Lee and Josh Bailey combined to set up Tavares for another back door strike, the big pivot firing the puck into a yawning cage as Holtby desperately dove and tried in vain to get a piece of the shot with his paddle.
New York played an extremely sound game in every facet, and Washington had difficulty getting to the middle of the ice to create chances. Early in the game when the score was still close, the Caps have a few good looks at the New York net, but they missed high and/or wide on each of those opportunities.
The Caps weren't able to establish a consistent forecheck either, and Trotz juggled his line combinations during the second half of the game as he tried rubbing some sticks together to create any kind of an offensive spark.
Washington didn't test Isles goaltender Jaroslav Halak very thoroughly on this night, but it finally managed to at least spoil his shutout bid just ahead of the midpoint of the third period.
Jay Beagle bumped the puck to linemate Chandler Stephenson along the left wing wall in neutral ice, sending Stephenson into the New York zone with speed. Dmitry Orlov jumped up late to join the rush on the backside, and Stephenson fed him perfectly. Orlov's one-time blast beat Halak to account for the 3-1 final score.