The Islanders considered their first loss in Washington a missed opportunity. Thursday’s defeat two nights later was a blown one.
The Capitals erased a three-goal, first-period deficit with five goals in the second period, including four within five minutes and nine seconds on shaky goalie Semyon Varlamov. The Islanders lost their third straight to start this season-high, five-game road trip, 6-3, at Capital One Arena.
And because it’s never too early to start worrying about the standings in a shortened, 56-game season, the Islanders (3-4-0) already are seven points behind the first-place Capitals in the East Division.
Coach Barry Trotz promised to "shake up" his lineup after Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Capitals on defenseman Justin Schultz’s goal with 26.4 seconds left in regulation. He placed rookies Oliver Wahlstrom — who scored his first NHL goal — and Kieffer Bellows on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s line while elevating Leo Komarov to Brock Nelson’s line with Josh Bailey with Anthony Beauvillier (lower body) still on injured reserve.
"I think we need to play our game and I don’t think we’ve done that," captain Anders Lee said before the game, calling Wednesday’s off-day a time to reflect on "what’s gone on." "At this point of the season, we have to get to who we are, find ourselves a little bit and just right the ship."
The ship looked righted through 20 minutes. Unfortunately for the Islanders, it’s a 60-minute game and the Islanders reverted to the type of play that annoyed Trotz on Tuesday. There were not enough bodies in front of Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek (27 saves), Nelson’s line still is not productive — or dangerous — enough and though the Islanders held a 11-1 shot advantage in the third period, too much came from the outside and there was little sustain to the attack.
The Capitals, who have yet to lose in regulation, were still without Alex Ovechkin, No. 1 goalie Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov as they remain in COVID-19 protocol. Center Lars Eller was also out after taking a third-period boarding major from Leo Komarov on Tuesday. But top-line right wing Tom Wilson did return to the Capitals’ lineup.
Conor Sheary pulled the Capitals within 3-2, scoring twice in 73 seconds. First, he connected from the low slot at 9:07 of the second period. Then, he deflected defenseman Zdeno Chara’s shot from the left point at 10:20.
Garnet Hathaway tied it at 3-3 at 11:11 on a shot from the right that Varlamov just whiffed on.
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech then whiffed on a clearing attempt, leading to John Carlson’s power-play goal from the left as the Capitals took a 4-3 lead at 14:16.
Chara completed the second-period onslaught with a blast from the left point at 18:30. Varlamov, who entered the game with a sterling 1.00 goals-against average and .966 save percentage, allowed the five goals on 14 second-period shots and made 17 saves overall.
Wahlstrom gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 9:50 of the first period with a shot from the left circle that deflected in off Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. Fourth-line center Casey Cizikas, with his first point of the season and first goal in 15 games dating to Jan. 18, 2020, also against the Capitals, made it 2-0 just 18 seconds later as he slipped the puck past Vitek Vanecek off Cal Clutterbuck’s blue-line feed.
Lee, playing in his 500th career game, made it 3-0 on the power play at 17:39 of the first period after Mathew Barzal fed the puck toward the crease.
Tom Wilson added an empty-net, power-play goal at 19:41 of the third period.
