3 Takeaways: Islanders Dig Early Hole in 5-2 Loss to Capitals

The New York Islanders lost control of their own playoff destiny on Monday, falling 5-2 to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.
It was a disappointing result against a Caps team without Alex Ovechkin, TJ Oshie, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Nic Dowd; who entered the game on a six-game slide and were already eliminated from playoff contention. With the loss, the Islanders (91 points) lost control of their playoff destiny, opening the door for the Pittsburgh Penguins (90 points) to leapfrog them with a pair of wins.

"It's extremely frustrating," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "We knew what we had to do and we didn't get it done. We just have to move on and get it done on Wednesday."
The result wasn't pretty and neither was the road to get there. Dylan Strome and Rasmus Sandin set the tone with two goals in 63 seconds to start the game, while Craig Smith made it 3-0 before the end of the first period. Tom Wilson and Strome's second of the night eventually iced the game with empty-netters, which helped fend off a pair of late goals from Hudson Fasching and Casey Cizikas.
With the loss, the Islanders two-game winning streak came to an end. They also lost the season series 1-2-1 to the Capitals.

ISLES FALTER IN FIRST PERIOD:

Anders Lee didn't mince words when assessing the first period on Monday night.
"Obviously a horrible start," the Islanders Captain said.
Coming in against a struggling and shorthanded Capitals team, Washington scored two goals in the first 63 seconds, immediately putting the Isles into a hole.
Dylan Strome opened the scoring at the 36 second mark, capitalizing off an Adam Pelech turnover before snapping a shot through Ilya Sorokin. Strome's goal - his fourth in as many games - should have been a wakeup call for the Islanders, much like Max Jones' icebreaker a month earlier in Anaheim. Instead, Rasmus Sandin made it 2-0 at the 1:03 mark, beating Sorokin with a seeing-eye wrister from the half wall.
CAPITALS 5, ISLANDERS 2
ISLANDERS ARTICLES
Gamecenter
Rapid Recap
ISLES-CAPS VIDEO
Full Highlights
Postgame: Lambert
Postgame: Lee
Postgame: Parise
Postgame: Nelson
KINGER'S CALLS
Fasching Breaks the Ice
Cizikas Wrists One
The Islanders seemingly snapped into it from there, with Bo Horvat and Anders Lee generating a pair of quality looks that Darcy Kuemper denied. The Isles had some more pressure throughout the period, including a Pierre Engvall shot off the post, but the period went from bad to worse when Craig Smith made it 3-0 at 13:13.
"We had to bear down and find a way to stop the bleeding a little bit," Lee said of the early goals. "They popped two and three."
Smith's goal wasn't particularly pretty, as Joe Snively and Ryan Pulock got tangled up, causing both players to fall to the ice. A dropped stick tripped Pelech in the process, causing the puck to bounce off the boards and to an unguarded Smith in front for a short side put-in.
"We made some mistakes right off the hop," Lambert said. "We had the puck on our stick we gave it to them, we lost a face off they scored, tripped over on our own stick. So some errors were made."

ISLES LOSE CONTROL OF PLAYOFF DESTINY IN LOSS:

Monday's result was obviously not a good one for the Islanders, who ceded control of their own destiny.
"That is disappointing," Zach Parise said. "You're in a spot when you win a couple and you're in and now we need help, so hopefully we get it."
They'll be scoreboard watching on Tuesday, as the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Chicago Blackhawks, who are currently tied for last in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Penguins can leapfrog the Islanders with a pair of wins over their last two games.
The Florida Panthers picked up a point in a 2-1 OT loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, so the Islanders can still catch the Cats, as Florida takes on the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes in their final regular season game.
As it stands, the Panthers are in the first wild card with 92 points, the Islanders are in the second wild card with 91 points and the Penguins lurk one point out with 90 points, but with a game in hand.

ISLES OFFENSE CAN'T GET GOING:

Monday's game was lost in the first period, but they didn't go down without a late push in the third period.
After generating some good looks - six high-danger chances at five-on-five - in the first period, and finding iron several times in the first 40 minutes, the Islanders were staring down the barrel of a shutout until the final 5:08 of the third period. That's when Fasching chipped in a Cal Clutterbuck rebound to make it 3-1, giving the Isles a glimmer of hope.
It was immediately answered by an empty-netter from Wilson, though that too was answered by Casey Cizikas' sixth of the season with 3:17 to play. That was as close as the Isles came, with Strome icing it at 18:50.
The Isles outshot the Caps 40-25 in the game and had 15 high-danger chances to Washington's eight (at five-on-five). Darcy Kuemper was solid when he had to be.
"I didn't dislike the offensive output, necessarily," Lambert said. "When you put yourself in a hole three down in the National Hockey League, you're going to have a very hard time climbing out of it."
The Islanders power play continued to struggle on Monday night, going 0-for-3, while only managing one shot. The Isles are 0-for-16 with the man advantage in their last eight games.
"I didn't see enough shots," Lambert said. "So move the puck around. At some point somebody's got to get to the net. When we did get it to the net a couple of times we did we created opportunity, but we had opportunities to score and get back into that game."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders have no choice but to move on from Monday's loss, as they host the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night in the final game of the regular season - and obviously a must-win. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.