Game Preview: Islanders at Capitals

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (4-2-2) AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS (4-3-1)

7 PM | CAPITAL ONE ARENA

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The New York Islanders head to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Capitals on Thursday at Capital One Arena. 

The Islanders are coming off a 4-3 OT loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. Casey Cizikas and Brock Nelson had the Isles up 2-0, before Jake Walman (1G, 1A), Daniel Sprong and J.T. Compher (1G,1A) put Detroit ahead 3-2. Bo Horvat scored late in the third to force overtime, but Lucas Raymond netted the overtime winner for Detroit. Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves in his second overtime loss of the season. 

The Capitals went three days without a game since their 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. Luke Kunin got the scoring started in the second period for San Jose, but Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov strung together three unanswered goals to extend the Capitals’ winning streak to three games and hand the Sharks their eighth loss of the season. Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves in the win for the Capitals.

“It’s going to be a good test,” Noah Dobson said on Wednesday. “Any time you have a divisional opponent, those are important games. The Caps have been good for awhile and it’s always a tough game going there.”

The Islanders went 1-2-1 against the Capitals last season in a series of four heated matchups. Thursday’s contest will mark the first of four meetings of the 2023-24 season between the Metropolitan Division rivals, all of which will wrap up before the calendar flips to 2024.

ISLANDERS NOTES

- Scott Mayfield skated with the team for the third consecutive day on Wednesday after missing the last seven games with a lower-body injury. Per Head Coach Lane Lambert, the defenseman traveled with the team to Washington, but his status on Thursday is yet to be determined. 

“We’ll see tomorrow,” Lambert said on Wednesday. “He had a good practice today, so we’ll see how he feels. There’s been progress now that he’s been skating with the group.”

- Though the Islanders saw their two-game win streak come to an end with Monday’s 4-3 OT loss to the Red Wings, their point streak is still alive, going 2-0-1 in their last three contests.

- The Islanders wrapped up October with 10 of 16 possible points for a 4-2-2 start. 

- Noah Dobson leads the Islanders with nine points (2G, 7A) in his first eight games of the season.

“The pucks have been just going in,” Dobson said.  “I’ve been getting some good breaks. Offensively I’m keeping it simple, getting pucks to the net and guys have been going a good job capitalizing on some pucks. It’s been a good start. I’m looking to keep going and building on that.”

- Brock Nelson and Bo Horvat are tied for the team lead in goals with four apiece through eight games. 

- Casey Cizikas potted his second goal of the season to open the scoring on Monday, recording the team’s first shorthanded tally of the season. The veteran center has 99 career goals. 

- Hudson Fasching scored two goals in four career games against the Capitals, including a goal in the Islanders’ 4-3 OT loss on Jan. 16 and a goal in a 5-2 loss on Apr. 10. 

“They’re a strong team,” Fasching said on Wednesday. “They’ve had their ups and downs like any other team, but it seems like they’re on a rise right now. I’m excited to be playing against them.”

- The Islanders’ penalty kill has gone 17-for-19 in their last five games with one shorthanded goal.

CAPITALS NOTES 

- The Capitals are riding a three-game winning streak and will host the Islanders in the third of a five-game homestand. 

- Nicklas Backstrom is taking a step back from hockey, the team announced on Wednesday. The forward was placed on LTIR and cited his ongoing injury situation as the reason to take an indefinite break from the game. Backstrom is the Capitals’ all-time assists leader, recording 762 along with 271 goals in the span of 1,105 career NHL games. He was drafted by Washington fourth overall in the 2006 NHL Draft and spent parts of 17 seasons with the franchise.

- Nic Dowd is out of the lineup with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss his seventh consecutive game on Thursday. Head Coach Spencer Carbery said the veteran center has not skated on his own yet since Oct. 21. Dowd recorded 25 points (13G, 12A) last year in his sixth season with Washington.

- The Capitals recalled 21-year-old Hendrix Lapierre from the Hershey Bears in place of Dowd. Lapierre logged 7:28 TOI on Sunday in his season debut and made six appearances with the Capitals in 2021-22, potting one goal against the Rangers on opening night.

- Dylan Strome leads the team in scoring with six goals and is on a three-game, four-goal streak. He recorded a career-best 23 goals last season through 81 games. 

- Alex Ovechkin is the team leader in assists (6) and points (8). 

- The Capitals inked Tom Wilson to a seven-year extension in the offseason, with the first year set to begin in 2024-25.