5 Takeaways: Islanders Blanked 1-0 by Caps

The New York Islanders dropped a 1-0 decision to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena, finishing a three-game set with the Caps with an 0-2-1 record. The Capitals took advantage of the extra boost of energy in their home building as they hosted 2,100 fans for the first time since the pandemic began last March.
Daniel Sprong scored the game-winner for Washington - who played the second-straight game without captain Alexander Ovechkin - just 1:29 into the game, while Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves for the shutout. Ilya Sorokin made his second-straight start for the Islanders and stopped 32 of 33 shots in the loss, while Cory Schneider served as the backup netminder.
The offense hasn't been coming easy as of late for the Islanders, who were shut out for the second time in the last three games. Tuesday night marked the third-straight meeting between the Islanders and Capitals to close out their regular season series in which the Islanders finished 2-5-1 while Washington went 6-2-0. During the three-game set, the Islanders didn't score a single goal at five-on-five and have only scored 12 even-strength goals since April 1 when they defeated Washington 8-4.

"We've got another level," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "There are some guys that have another level in their game… A 1-0 loss against a very good team is not what you want, but it's not coming real easy right now and a lot of that is due to a little bit on our part and a little bit on the competition as well."
Here are five takeaways from the Islanders' loss:

CAPS SCORE EARLY, HOLD OFF ISLANDERS

The Capitals raced out to an early 1-0 lead as they scored the first goal of the game 1:29 following the opening faceoff. Dmitry Orlov won a battle along the boards to hem the Islanders in their own zone and as a loose puck surfaced from below the hash marks, Sprong corralled it, took his time in the low slot and roofed his shot over Sorokin's shoulder to put the Caps on the board.
"They scored an early goal, which was very preventable," Trotz said. "We overskated a puck and gave up the inside and they scored real early."
While neither team scored for the remainder of the game, the Islanders felt it was a better performance on their end than their previous efforts, though it still wasn't at the level they know they're capable of competing at. They continued to look disjointed at times and struggled to get their offense set up compared to Washington's dominant stretches that ended in a 33-18 final shot count.
"We weren't able to create any second opportunities, get in front of him, make it difficult in front of Vanecek's] eyes," Casey Cizikas said. "We played a hard game, we played a good game overall. It's just getting those second opportunities, we had a lot of chances that just missed the net. It's not easy losing to these guys, we're a proud group over here and we want to come out with two points every single time. These are the games we have to learn from coming own the stretch here because every single game is going to be like this."
Despite Washington's early strike, the remainder of the first period featured a more balanced effort between sides and tight-checking hockey, but the period ended in a scramble.
Back-to-back penalties taken by the Islanders in the final three minutes of the period afforded Washington with 1:16 of a five-on-three power play. The Islanders killed off Ryan Pulock's initial tripping penalty and then ended the period with a remaining 34 seconds of time on the penalty kill for Braydon Coburn's tripping penalty to start off the second period.
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The Islanders killed off the remaining 34 seconds of Coburn's penalty, but the exchanges between teams didn't stop there. Matt Martin and Zdeno Chara dropped the gloves - and each received five-minute fighting penalties - 4:20 into the period after Chara took exception to Martin's hit on Caps forward Michael Raffl.
As the period progressed, the Caps worked the Islanders' zone, stringing together long possessions and threatening zone cycles. Sorokin was solid for the Islanders in the period as the Capitals offense ticked up its chances.
The Islanders drew their first power play late in the period at 18:36 as Sprong hooked Cizikas. The Caps killed off the initial 1:24 of the Islanders power play, but the team began the third period with 36 seconds remaining on the power play.
The Caps killed off the remaining time on the power play and the Islanders were subsequently under siege as Washington's offense mounted a push. Sorokin kept the push at bay as the Islanders were outshot 6-1 through the first six minutes.
The Islanders had some chances to even out the score as they went on the power play at 9:10 on a Kuznetsov slashing penalty, 1:13 of four-on-three following JG Pageau and Tom Wilson's roughing penalties at 6:25 and an Anthony Mantha hooking penalty at 5:38, but the Islanders' efforts came up short.

SOROKIN STARTS, SCHNEIDER BACKS UP

Sorokin received his second-straight starting nod after manning the pipes in Saturday's 6-3 loss to Washington, where he made 24 saves on 30 shots. Schneider backed up Sorokin as Semyon Varlamov did not dress due to "soreness."
"He skated today, a little bit of soreness, so we kept him out," Trotz said of Varlamov. "But I don't see that being a problem going forward at all."
While Varlamov was unavailable for Tuesday's game, Trotz noted that the coaching staff had always planned on Sorokin getting this chance against the Capitals again.
In the second period, the Russian rookie was solid with his 13 saves as the Islanders were fighting against a strong Washington push. Sorokin made stops on a Nic Dowd blast from the slot six minutes into the period and was saved by his crossbar on T.J. Oshie's subsequent follow up. He also came with a clutch stop on a two-on-one chance from Tom Wilson and Orlov, making the pad save on Wilson's one timer. And following an extended zone possession for the Caps, Sorokin gloved a long-range look from Lars Eller.
In the third period, as the Caps tested Sorokin early and often the netminder came up with some big saves. He made an extended pad save early on as Carl Hagelin crashed the crease and denied an Mantha breakaway at 4:25 into the final frame.
With the loss, Sorokin's record dropped to 12-6-1.

PENALTY KILL CONTINUES TO PERFORM

The Islanders penalty kill continues to be a bright spot for the team. With a perfect 2-for-2 execution on Tuesday night, the Islanders have killed 26 of the last 27 opponent power plays.
Coming into Tuesday's game, the unit ranked seventh overall in the NHL at 83.1%.

WAHLSTROM AND COBURN DRAW IN LINEUP

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Oliver Wahlstrom and Braydon Coburn both drew in the lineup. Both skaters returned to the lineup for the first time since April 18.
Wahlstrom skated alongside Pageau and Beauvillier. The 20-year-old winger logged 14:26, including 3:51 on the power play, had two hits and one shot.
Coburn drew in the lineup for the second time since becoming a member of the Islanders on the night before the NHL Trade Deadline on April 12. The 36-year-old veteran defenseman replaced 21-year-old Noah Dobson on the blueline.
Coburn totaled 13:06, took one penalty, had three blocks, one hit and skated alongside Andy Greene.

TIGHT RACE IN THE STANDINGS

The playoff race in the East Division continues to get tighter and tighter as the countdown for remaining regular season games dwindles. With Washington collecting two points in the win and Boston earning a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh, the Capitals overtook first place (68 points) from the Penguins (67 points). With the Islanders' loss, only one point separates their third-place standing (63 points) from fourth-place Boston (62 points).
"This is a good test for us," Cizikas said. "We're going into a game against the [New York Rangers] with our heads high knowing that we're a good team. Moving forward, we're going to play our game and our game only."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to Madison Square Garden for their seventh meeting of the season against the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.