Rapid Recap: Capitals 5, Islanders 1

The New York Islanders three-game winning streak came to a close on Saturday night, as the Isles fell 5-1 to the Washington Capitals at UBS Arena.
Pierre Engvall's first goal as an Islander opened the scoring, but Washington responded with five unanswered goals for the win.
Rasmus Sandin led the way for Washington with a three-point night (3A), while Dylan Strome (1G, 1A), TJ Oshie (GWG), Anthony Mantha (1G, 1A), Nic Dowd and Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Capitals. The Islanders five goals against was the most they'd allowed since a 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 18 and their 18 shots for tied for the third-fewest in a game this season.
The Islanders (76 points) dropped to the second wild card position on Saturday, as they were leapfrogged by the Pittsburgh Penguins (76 points) who beat Philadelphia 5-1 in the afternoon. While the two teams are tied in points, the Penguins have played three fewer games. The Florida Panthers (73 points) also gained ground on the Islanders, picking up a point in a 5-4 in OT.

THE SCORING

1st Period:
5:18 - NYI 1, WSH 0 - Pierre Engvall scores his first goal as an Islander. Hudson Fasching was hauled down by Matt Irwin, leading to both a delayed penalty and a two-on-one rush for Engvall and Josh Bailey. Engvall sends a centering feed to Bailey, but a sliding Alexander Alexeyev inadvertently sweeps it into his own net.

6:41 - NYI 1, WSH 1- The Capitals respond quickly, as Dylan Strome nets his 16th goal of the season. Trevor van Riemsdyk's initial shot misses the net and is picked up by Rasmus Sandin, who quickly feeds Strome in the slot. Strome one-times the feed high blocker side on a partially screened Semyon Varlamov.
19:13 - WSH 2, NYI 1 - TJ Oshie scores his 17th goal of the season, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play with Sandin and van Riemsdyk.
2nd Period:
No scoring.
3rd Period:
4:15 - WSH 3, NYI 1 - Anthony Mantha scores his 10th goal of the season just as a Capitals power play expires. Mantha is at the side of the net to clean up an Alex Ovechkin rebound. Dylan Strome picks up the secondary assist for his second point of the game.
12:18 - WSH 4, NYI 1 - Nic Dowd collects a turnover in the slot and wrists one past Semyon Varlamov from the high slot.
13:19 - WSH 5, NYI 1 - Nicklas Backstrom tips a Sandin point shot for his fourth goal of the season. Mantha picks up the secondary assist.

NOTEBOOK:

Cal Clutterbuck returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 19, skating on a line with Josh Bailey and Pierre Engvall. Clutterbuck played 12:36 TOI with four shot attempts and four hits... Otto Koivula missed Saturday's game with a lower-body injury... Alexander Romanov played in his 200th NHL game... Matt Martin played in his 752nd game on Saturday, tying Mike Bossy for seventh on the franchise's all-time games played list... Hudson Fasching and Casey Cizikas' three-game point streaks came to an end... The Islanders allowed three third period goals after only allowing one in the previous 10 games... The Islanders fall to 2-4-3 in their last nine games against the Capitals... The Isles drop to 3-8-2 in their last 13 home games against the Caps... Bo Horvat won 17 of 24 draws (71%) and had a team-high nine shot attempts...

GOALTENDING BATTLE:

Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 of 27 in the loss.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 of 18 in the win.

SPECIAL TEAMS BATTLE:

The Islanders went 0-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the PK.

IMAGE OF THE GAME:

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head out on a three-game California swing, starting in LA on Tuesday. Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. eastern.