Game Preview: Islanders at Capitals

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (41-30-9) AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS (34-36-9)
7 PM | CAPITAL ONE ARENA
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LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | 1050AM
Heading into the penultimate game of the regular season, the New York Islanders playoff fate is in their hands.
A pair of wins gets them into the postseason, starting with Monday's matchup against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.
The Islanders (91 points) currently sit in the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, tied in points with the Florida Panthers, though the Panthers hold the first tiebreaker (regulation wins). The Isles are one point up on the Pittsburgh Penguins (90 points). The Panthers play Toronto on Monday, while the Penguins are idle. All three teams have two games remaining in the regular season.

The Isles have won two straight games heading into Monday, most recently beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0.
While the Isles are in the thick of a playoff race, the Capitals are going to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2013-14, ending an eight-year run of postseason appearances. Washington has lost four straight games and is winless in their past six games (0-5-1).
The Islanders are 1-1-1 in three games against the Capitals this season, winning the most recent matchup, 2-1 in a shootout, on March 29. The Isles have only scored five goals in three games against the Capitals this season. The Islanders are 3-1-2 in their last six trips to Washington.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Ilya Sorokin recorded his league-leading sixth shutout of the season on Saturday night, stopping 27 saves over the Philadelphia Flyers. Sorokin's shutout was his 16th of his career, which tied him with Rick DiPietro for third on the team's all-time shutout list.
Sorokin has started 22 of the Islanders past 27 games, going 14-5-3 over that span. Sorokin is 30-21-7 this season with a 2.33 GAA, a .925 SV% and six shutouts.
• Simon Holmstrom (2A) recorded his first-career two-point game and has points in back-to-back games (1G, 2A) for the first time in his young career. Holmstrom has nine points (6G, 3A) in 49 games this season.
• The Islanders power play is 0-for-13 over the past seven games. The Islanders 13 power plays are 32nd in the league over that span. Overall, the Islanders' power play is 31st in the league. Since Mathew Barzal was injured on Feb. 18, the Isles power play is 5-for-49 (10.2%) and their 49 power plays drawn is 32nd in the league.
• Per team statistician Eric Hornick, the Isles have outscored the opposition 33-11 over the last 23 third periods. The team's third period differential improved to +21.
• Brock Nelson tied Anders Lee for 8th place on the club's all-time goal list (239) and dropping Bob Bourne (238) to 10th all-time. Nelson leads the Islanders with 73 points and is the first Islander with at least 73 points in a season since 2017-18, when Mathew Barzal had 85 and John Tavares had 84.
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GAME EXTRAS
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Isles History
• Alex Romanov has missed the team's past three games with an upper-body injury and has not skated with the team in the past week.
• Pierre Engvall has two goals in two games against the Capitals since joining the Islanders, which leads the team.

CAPITALS NOTES:

• The Capitals are on a six-game winless streak, going 0-5-1 over that span. The Capitals are most recently coming off a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, allowing Matthew Tkachuk to break a 2-2 tie with one minute to play in regulation.
The Caps have allowed at least four goals in all of their regulation losses, with their last game allowing fewer than four goals being last week's 2-1 shootout loss to the Islanders.
• Darcy Kuemper has lost five straight starts, going 0-4-1 over that span. Kuemper is 21-26-6 in his first season with Washington, with a 2.84 GAA, a .909 SV% and five shutouts. Kuemper was 37-12-4 with a 2.54 GAA, .921 SV% and five shutouts last season with Colorado.
The goaltender has appeared in all three games against the Islanders this season, going 2-0-1 with a 1.59 GAA and a.948 SV% over that span.
• Alex Ovechkin missed Saturday's game with an upper-body injury. The Capitals are 0-7-0 without Ovechkin in the lineup this season. Ovechkin leads Washington with 42 goals and 74 points this season, the 13th 40-goal season of his career.
• The Washington Capitals recalled forward Beck Malenstyn for Saturday's game. The 25-year-old has appeared in six games with Washington this season, recording two points (1G, 1A).
• Dylan Strome is riding a three-game point streak with four points (3G, 1A) over that span. Strome is having a career-year, with 61 points (21G, 40A) in 78 games, 10 points clear of his previous career-high. Strome is one goal shy of matching his career-high in goals (22) set last season with Chicago.