Capitals crush Islanders

The Washington Capitals gave up the first goal but went on to score five unanswered in a 5-1 win.

Pierre Engvall struck first for the Islanders at 5:18. Dylan Strome tied it at 6:41 for his 16th goal of the season which was assisted by Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk. T.J. Oshie gave the Caps the lead for good at 19:13. That was also assisted by the Sandman and TvR.

2-1 was the score after one while the Caps led in shots 12-4. Nobody scored in the second period as shots were even at eight apiece.

In the third period the Caps added three more goals. Anthony Mantha finally scored his first goal of this calendar year and his 10th of the season which was assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Strome. Nic Dowd added his 11th of the year at 12:18. Nicklas Backstrom scored his fourth goal of the season at 13:19 which was assisted by Sandin and Mantha.

The Caps led in shots 7-6 in the third period and 27-18 overall. Darcy Kuemper stopped all 18 shots he faced for his 20th win.

Rasmus Sandin recorded three assists tonight and is the first player in franchise history to record three multi point performances in their first four games with the Capitals.

This was a big win. Whether you want to believe the Caps are still in the race or not, they aren’t mathematically out of it. The loss by the Islanders drops them to the second and final wild card playoff spot while the Pittsburgh Penguins moved past them with their win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Caps currently sit fourth place in the wild card five points behind the Islanders and Penguins. They are two points behind the third place Florida Panthers. There’s 15 games left in the season.

So that’s where things stand right now, five points out with 15 left to play.