The Washington Capitals lost to the New York Islanders 4-1 and will now likely face either the New York Rangers or Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They take on the Islanders again in New York tomorrow night.
The lone Caps goal came from Conor Sheary on a rebound in front of the net at 10:24. Marcus Johansson and Nick Jensen had the assists.
The Islanders would score four unanswered goals from then on out. At 16:18 they struck on the power play from Ryan Pulock. Shots were 13-10 Islanders in the first period.
The second period was scoreless as the Caps led in shots 9-5.
In the third period the Caps outshot the Islanders 14-8 and 33-26 overall but couldn’t outscore them. Noah Dobson scored on the power play at 2:56. Casey Cizikas added one shorthanded at 8:42. Then Anders Lee put a bow on it at 15:17. Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves.
Nothing changes in the standings as the Pittsburgh Penguins lost 5-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. The Caps are 44-24-12 with 100 points. They’re just one point behind the Penguins and will need to win their last two games and scoreboard watch if they want to avoid the powerhouse Panthers.
The Carolina Hurricanes won the Metropolitan Division while the Boston Bruins put themselves in a comfortable enough lead for the first Wild Card spot.
Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette was not happy at all with the way his team played:
"“We can’t play like we did tonight going into the playoffs — if we play like this in the playoffs. This isn’t who we are. This isn’t our M.O. It’s one night, it was lousy and so that’s that.”"
The Caps close out the regular season with two more road games in the Big Apple. First up is a rematch with the Islanders tomorrow and then a potential first round preview on Friday against the Rangers.