Takeaways: Isles Fall 4-1 to Caps

The New York Islanders dropped a 4-1 decision to the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena.

Tom Wilson (2G, 1A) had a three-point gamewhile Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin (1G, 1A) potted empty net goals for the Capitals. Bo Horvat (PPG) scored the lone goal for the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin made 14 saves on 16 shots in the loss, while Logan Thompson made 30 saves in the win.

“We did everything right. “We had a lot of shots and a lot of chances, we just came up short,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “The standard of our hockey team is to win games, but sometimes you need to continue to play the way we [have been] and believe that things will go our way.”

The Islanders are winless in their last three games (0-2-1) and are 1-3-1 on the seven-game homestand.

TAKEAWAYS

- The Capitals got on the board first with a power-play goal when Ovechkin set up Wilson for a tap in at the side of the net at the 7:37 mark of the first period. They doubled their lead in the second period when Sorokin misplayed the puck behind the net on a pass intended for Matthew Schaefer, but was intercepted by for an easy tally to make it 2-0 at the 13:58 mark of the frame. It was an atypical blemish from Sorokin, whose teammates didn’t levy any blame on him postgame and fought to bail him out.

“I know Ilya wants the second goal back,” Roy said. “What I love is the reaction from the guys on the bench, they said let’s get one back for him. This group plays as a team.”

- Horvat’s power-play goal late in the third period to make it 2-1 was as close as they came to making a comeback. Ryan Pulock took a long shot from the point, which Anders Lee attempted to knock in net-front, but Horvat was there to bury the loose change. The Caps pulled away with a pair of empty net goals in a game where the Isles were up on shots 31-18. The Islanders have outshot opponents 170-94 in their last five games, but have a record of 1-3-1 over that span and were outscored 9-6.

“It’s frustrating,” Horvat said. “It gets to you mentally, but you can’t dwell on it and can’t let it go the other way because we’re playing good hockey. We just have to start scoring more and bear down on our chances.”

- Pulock took Max Shabanov’s place on the third period power play and recorded his first power-play point since Mar. 29. Roy explained the decision postgame – Asst. Coach Ray Bennett wanted to long shots in a situation where the Islanders desperately needed a goal.

- Cal Ritchie had a strong night in the dot, going 8-for-13 in faceoffs (61.5%).

- Simon Holmstrom had a strong game, recording two takeaways in 16:47 TOI. He made a strong play, pick-pocketing Jacob Chychrun from behind and sparking a 2-on-1 the other way.

- Roy shuffled his forward lines late in the second period, putting Horvat with Mathew Barzal and Jonathan Drouin.

- Mathew Barzal looked speedy on Sunday and had a wraparound attempt late in the first period that Thompson stopped with his right pad.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday for the penultimate game of their seven-game homestand. Puck drop is set for 7PM.