ELMONT, NY — Home cooking clearly is not agreeing with the New York Islanders, who lost for the fourth time in five games amid this seven-game homestand with a 4-1 result against the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena.
Tom Wilson scored twice and added an assist for the visitors, while the Islanders (13-10-3, 29 points) were stymied by Capitals goalie Logan Thompson, who made 30 saves. Despite largely outplaying its opponents over the past week, New York has scored just five goals in their last five games, and three of them came in Friday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Sometimes after games there’s nothing to be said,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “Today is an example. We did everything right. We had a lot of shots, we had a lot of chances, just came up short. We could come up with excuses… but sometimes we just need to continue the way we are and believe that things will go our way.”
Ilya Sorokin, who gave Wilson his second goal on a silver platter thanks to an errant pass in the second period, stopped 14 Capitals shots. His giveaway proved to be the difference, as Bo Horvat finally broke through Thompson with 6:17 remaining in regulation. Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin added empty-netters inside the final 1:11 of the game.
“I totally understand how [Sorokin] feels,” Roy said. “It happened to me many times. I was pretty good at turnovers. It happens. I loved the way the guys reacted. They wanted to get that one back.”
Just 12 seconds after Matthew Schaefer tripped Ryan Leonard, the Capitals went in front on the power play through Wilson, who converted from in close at Sorokin’s right post
The Islanders nearly had an answer three minutes later when Ryan Pulock’s point shot got through traffic and leaked through Thompson’s pads, but the Capitals’ netminder was able to fall on the puck before it crossed the goal line.
Mathew Barzal nearly converted a wraparound attempt with a minute left in the first, but Thompson was able to get his right pad over in time.
“It’s just not going in for us right now,” Horvat said. “Obviously, it’s frustrating, but it’s something we have to keep working on and build on. Eventually, it’s gonna start going in.”
Sorokin gifted Wilson and the Capitals their second goal of the afternoon with 6:02 remaining in the second period. Attempting to play the puck from behind the net, his pass intended for Scahefer in the right circle was picked off by the Washington forward, who backhanded the puck into an open net as Sorokin failed to scramble back in time.
“I saw a window, and I tried to go high,” Sorokin said of his turnover. “But it was a broken play. I should’ve played it simple in that moment.”
This came after the Islanders generated little on two quick power plays earlier in the frame. Their struggling man-advantage unit that had been 1-for-its-last-33.
Horvat brought the Islanders within one on the power play at the 13:43 mark of the third period when he batted home a bouncing rebound off Thompson’s pads for his 15th goal of the season.
Defenseman Ryan Pulock replaced winger Max Shabanov — who is filling in for the injured Kyle Palmieri — on that power play, and it was his shot from the point that sparked the Islanders’ goal. After Thompson kicked away the initial shot, Anders Lee’s rebound was deflected to Horvat, who finished it off.
“We wanted a shot from the top,” Roy said. “There was urgency for us to score at that moment. We needed a goal, and we felt like getting a shot from the top might help, and it did, actually.”
