5 Takeaways: Islanders Feel 'Disconnected' in 6-3 Loss to Capitals

The New York Islanders had looked tight and buttoned up defensively in their previous two games against the Washington Capitals, but felt "disconnected" in a 6-3 loss on Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum.
Anthony Beauvillier and JG Pageau scored power-play goals, while Adam Pelech scored a shorthanded goal, but it was not enough to overcome six even-strength tallies from a Capitals team playing without Alex Ovechkin.

"I felt like at times we weren't necessarily connected," Pelech said. "We were kind of all over the place at times, we weren't playing our game, which is predictable hockey, five guys working as a unit up and down the ice and I think we got away from that a bit. If we get in those track meet kind of games, especially against a team like Washington, we're not going to win very many of them."
Daniel Sprong, who assumed Ovechkin's spot on the Caps top line, scored two goals, while Evengy Kuznetsov had a game-high three points (1G, 2A). Garnet Hathaway, T.J. Oshie and Nic Dowd also scored for Washington, while Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves.
With the loss, the Islanders (63 points) remain in third place in the East Division, three points back of the first-place Capitals (66 points) and two back of second-place Pittsburgh. They'll have another crack at the Caps on Tuesday in DC.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's loss.

CAPS SCORE EARLY AND OFTEN:

The Islanders had not allowed a goal to the Capitals in 145:09 heading into Saturday's game, but the floodgates opened early with Hathaway's icebreaker at the 2:33 mark, a wrister from the half wall that eluded Ilya Sorokin.
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Beauvillier's Backhand PPG
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While Hathaway's goal wasn't a high danger chance, it was the spark that ignited the Capitals offense, as Washington made it 2-0 at 10:55. Oshie capped off a tic-tac-toe play with Nicklas Backstrom and Anthony Mantha, as the Caps offense looked dangerous even without its captain.
The Islanders were able to claw out of a 2-0 deficit and tie the score on a pair of goals from Beauvillier and Pelech, but the Caps used a pair of strikes from Dowd and Sprong 2:25 apart to open up a 4-2 lead.
The Islanders pulled within one with Pageau's backhanded baseball swing at 17:12 to make it 4-3, but that's as close as they came. Kuznetsov skated end to end and beat Sorokin under his arm to make it 5-3 at 7:35 of the third, while Sprong iced it off a set play on an offensive zone draw to make it 6-3 at 14:43.
Saturday marked the second time the usually-stingy Islanders had allowed six goals and first since giving up six on March 27 against Pittsburgh. It was an uncharacteristic loss for an Islanders team that had only allowed one regulation goal in the three previous games.
"At this time of the year, all of the little details matter," Pageau said. "When I mean disconnected, it's just that we were not in the right spots. They capitalized on their chances."

POWER PLAY SCORES TWICE ON GOOD NIGHT FOR SPECIAL TEAMS:

If there was a positive to draw from Saturday's loss, it was the power play, which scored twice after going 1-for-15 in the last five games.
Beauvillier scored the Islanders first power-play goal of the evening, fishing a loose puck out of some net-front chaos and backhanding it past Samsonov to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 14:28 of the first period.
Down 4-2 after a pair of Caps goals 2:25 apart, the power play again pulled the Islanders within one. Noah Dobson's point shot took a hard carom off the lively Coliseum end boards back out front, where Pageau swatted it out of the air with a backhand baseball swing at 17:12.
The power play's two-goal night was the first since a 2-for-5 outing against Pittsburgh on Feb. 28.
"Just to be good tonight on the special teams gave us a chance to come back in this game two times, three times," Pageau said. "It's good for the confidence of the guys that were on it."

PELECH GOES END TO END:

Pelech doesn't typically wind up on the highlight reel, but the defensive defenseman may have delivered an Islanders goal of the year candidate on Saturday.
It was part Nick Leddy and part Ryan Pulock, as Pelech carried the puck up the ice from his own goal line, before going with a full wind up and powering a slapper past Samsonov from the inside of the blue line.
Pelech's goal was third of the season - and the first shorthanded tally of the defenseman's career.
"Whenever you have confidence you can bump your game up another level," Pelech said. "That one I just had a ton of open ice in front of me, I went down, took a slapper an luckily it went in."

SOROKIN ALLOWS SIX GOALS FOR FIRST TIME:

Despite Semyon Varlamov posting back-to-back shutouts against the Capitals in his last two outings, Head Coach Barry Trotz turned to Ilya Sorokin on Saturday night.
In fairness, Sorokin was also coming off a 30-save shutout over the Philadelphia Flyers on April 18, so Trotz was playing a hot goalie either way and said the goalie plan was drawn up in advance.
Sorokin stopped 24-of-30 shots in the game, but allowed a pair of uncharacteristic tallies, which Trotz called "easy goals" after the game. The rookie allowed a long-range wrister from Hathaway short side at 2:33 of the first to put the Isles down 1-0, but didn't much of a chance on Oshie's tic-tac-toe finish.
"The first one was obviously not a good goal, I thought they had two easy goals," Trotz said.
The rookie seemingly settled in after that, coming up with a pair of quality blocker saves through traffic to prevent the Caps from running away with the game early, but did not have the benefit of a usually-stingy group in front of him, as the Isles were loose with the puck in the second period.
Tied 2-2, Sorokin didn't have much of a chance on the Capitals two goals in the middle frame. Dowd's shot eluded several bodies in front of a screened Sorokin and came in a chaotic sequence where the Islanders blocked the previous tries, but could not clear. There was little the rookie could do on a cross-ice backdoor feed from Kuznetsov to Sprong for his first of the game.

Down 4-3, Sorokin gave up an uncharacteristic goal to Kuznetsov, getting beat between his arm and his body from 25 feet out. Sprong's second of the night was a well-placed snipe off a set play off a faceoff.
"Our decision making wasn't great and we got beat to the back side goals," Trotz said. "Two I can put on bad angle goals and four were some of our play, getting beat to the back to the net and turning pucks over in the neutral zone."
The six goals allowed was a season/career-high for Sorokin, whose record dropped to 12-5-1.

ZAJAC IN, KOMAROV OUT:

Travis Zajac drew back into the lineup in place of Leo Komarov. Zajac skated on a line with Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle. Zajac skated 16:48, winning six of his nine faceoffs on the night.
Trotz said Komarov was able to play, but could also benefit from some extra rest.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders and Capitals wrap up their three-game series on Tuesday night in DC. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.