Takeaways: Islanders Drop 4-1 Decision to Capitals

The New York Islanders fell to the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Monday night at Capital One Arena.

Mathew Barzal scored the lone goal for the Islanders in the first period, but the Capitals scored four unanswered goals from Martin Fehervary, Anthony Beauvillier, Nic Dowd (1G, 1A) and John Carlson (ENG). David Rittich made 20 saves while Clay Stevenson stopped 28 of 29 Islanders shots in the win.

It was a huge game against a divisional opponent, as the two teams entered the contest four points apart in the standings, but the Islanders (65 points) are now two points clear of the Capitals (63 points) with a game in-hand.

“Every game is important,” Scott Mayfield said. “You’re trying to rack up points the entire season so that’s how we see it. Every game is a new game.”

TAKEAWAYS

- The Islanders allowed four unanswered goals from the Capitals in the loss, but the game changed complexion in a 31-second, second-period stretch where the Caps scored twice. Fehervary got a feed from Tom Wilson in the high slot and beat Rittich five-hole to make it 1-1 at the 5:29 mark of the second period. Beauvillier stuffed a puck underneath Rittich with a wraparound goal to take a 2-1 lead 31 seconds after the Capitals scored their initial goal.

“I thought we had a good first period until they scored those two quick goals,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a few good chances and didn’t score on those, maybe that affected us as well.”

- Washington scored their third tally of the game off an Isles own goal, where Dowd’s pass across the crease hit Tony DeAngelo’s skate and caromed in to make it 3-1 at the 8:46 mark of the third period. Carlson sealed the deal with an empty netter. Though the result was 4-1, the Islanders felt like the game and the atmosphere was tighter than the score reflected.

“It’s one of those tough games where we played solid,” Lee said. “4-1 sounds worse than it was.”

- The Islanders broke the ice as Barzal intercepted a Wilson pass in the slot 16:38 into the game. DeAngelo made a huge impact on the play with his involvement with Wilson in the corner behind the goal line to force an errant pass. The goal was Barzal’s fourth in his last five games.

- The Capitals had the edge on blocked shots 23-12 in the contest.

“They’re a team that competes and works hard, it was hard to get around their net at times,” JG Pageau said. “But it’s on us to find a shooting lane and take the eyes away from their goalie.”

- The Islanders PK went a perfect 4-for-4, including a stretch where they were shorthanded for 3:50, including a 10-second five-on-three.

- Horvat was buzzing and had several prime chances, including a breakaway chance in the first period that would have made it 2-0. He also had a two-on-one shorthanded chance with Casey Cizikas late in the game.

- Jonathan Drouin made his return to the lineup after he missed Saturday’s contest with an illness. He centered a line with Emil Heineman and Simon Holmstrom and went 4-for-11 in faceoffs.

- Despite the result, Roy was happy with the line changes he made heading into the contest, where Horvat centered a line with Barzal and Ondrej Palat, putting Heineman and Simon Holmstrom together for the first time and having Pageau and Anthony Duclair on the same line.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders return home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second half of a back-to-back set. Puck drop is set for 7:30PM at UBS Arena.