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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
