Islanders fail to gain in East wild card with loss to Capitals

WASHINGTON -- The New York Islanders failed to gain ground in the Eastern Conference wild card race in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Monday.

New York fell one point behind the Florida Panthers for the first wild card; Florida lost 2-1 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
"That is disappointing when you're in a spot where you win a couple and you're in," Islanders forward Zach Parise said. "Now we need help, so hopefully we get it."

Hudson Fasching and Casey Cizikas scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves for the Islanders (41-31-9), who won their previous two games and play their regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
"It's extremely frustrating," New York coach Lane Lambert said. "We knew what we had to do, and we didn't get it done. We just have to move on and get it done on Wednesday."
Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves, and Dylan Strome scored twice for the Capitals (35-36-9), who had lost six in a row (0-5-1).
"You saw a lot of character tonight," Kuemper said. "It's a tough spot we're in right now. … None of us envisioned being here, but guys are going to play hard. We've got a lot of pride in this room, and I think you saw that tonight."
Strome extended his goal streak to four games just 36 seconds into the first period when he controlled a loose puck in the right face-off circle and scored with a glove-side wrist shot to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
Rasmus Sandin made it 2-0 at 1:03, scoring on a wrist shot to the far side from along the left boards.
"I was just trying to get the puck on net, to be honest," Sandin said. "I saw a guy coming at me, so I was just trying to get it on net and luckily it went in."

Smith increased the lead to 3-0 at 13:13 when he received Martin Fehervary's pass from behind the goal line and scored from the edge of the left circle.
"Obviously, a horrible start," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "We put ourselves in a hole down three (goals). After that, next 40, 50 minutes, we had plenty of chances. Couldn't get enough to go early enough."

Fasching cut it to 3-1 on a rebound at 14:52 of the third period, but Tom Wilson made it 4-1 when scored into an empty net at 15:44.
Cizikas cut it to 4-2, converting a pass from Bo Horvat during 6-on-5 situation, but Strome scored an empty-net goal at 18:50 for the 5-2 final.
It was Strome's 23rd goal, an NHL career high. He had 22 for the Chicago Blackhawks last season.
"It was good to get a win," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "When you're losing games, it's deflating. It was good to get a good start, come out the right way, score goals right away -- a couple of goals right off the bat. … I thought [Kuemper] was really good. They fired a lot of shots tonight."
NOTES:Washington scored two or fewer goals in each of its previous five games. … Strome and Sandin combined for the fifth-fastest two goals to start a game in Capitals history. Gaetan Duchesne and Mark Taylor were the fastest (29 seconds on Oct. 27, 1985). … Wilson had two points (one goal, one assist), five hits and was plus-3 in 19:31 of ice time. … Washington captain Alex Ovechkin missed his second game because of an upper body injury. The Capitals won for the first time this season when he didn't play (1-7-0). … Washington blocked 27 shots, four each by Sandin and Fehervary. … Parise and Islanders defensemen Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock were each minus-3. … Horvat has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past three games.