The Washington Capitals were back on Long Island to face the New York Islanders in a much less exciting matchup than their one just over a week ago. Neither team was playing for anything as the Caps already clinched the Eastern Conference, and Patrick Roy’s Islanders clinched an early offseason.
Dylan Strome flung a power-play wrister off of Ryan Pulock and past Ilya Sorokin to open the scoring. Strome doubled up on tallies with another wrist shot in the second period. Nic Dowd scored on Charlie Lindgren, but they awarded the goal to JG Pageau.
Strome finished off his hat trick into an empty net.
Capitals beat Islanders 3-1!
- The Islanders kept up with their usual boring style early in the game, but the Capitals battled through it enough to take hold of the play, especially in the latter half of the opening frame. Alex Ovechkin’s top line with Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier was particularly good, forcing Ilya Sorokin into some tough stops on multiple shifts.
- An Islanders player literally picked up Dylan McIlrath’s stick and chucked it into the corner right in front of one of the refs, and no penalty was called. I understand wanting to maybe get some playoff officiating practice in, but what are we doing there? Oh, wait, that probably was the playoff officiating practice.
- No John Carlson or Jakob Chychrun due to maintenance, so we got a look at Rasmus Sandin quarterbacking the top power-play unit. The more pass-first Sandin added a new wrinkle to that group, which I thought was a fun watch. The Islanders, though, are also just an atrocious penalty-killing team.
- The Islanders had more of the puck in the second period, but I think the Capitals did a really good job keeping everything to the outside and then creating their own offense off of poor New York decisions and turnovers. The power play had even more looks on their few chances but just couldn’t find the final pass or shot. Great, crisp puck movement, though.
- I really think an NHL team out there is going to get Alex Alexeyev for very cheap or maybe even nothing one day and be very happy with their pickup. Big, strong guys like him who can move the puck like he does don’t grow on trees. If he was right-handed, he’d be talked about a lot more, but unfortunately is behind Chychrun, Sandin, and Martin Fehervary on the left-side depth chart.
- Speaking of Fehervary, he left this game for a long stretch after hobbling back to the locker room during the first period. He did return in the second and didn’t look any worse for wear. If he can hold up for one more game, he’ll play in all 82 games this season and in his 300th career game on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Strome hit a new single-season career high in goals with his third career hat trick. The 28-year-old center now has 29 goals this year, bringing him to 80 points (81) for the first time in a season. Strome has set a new single-season best in goals and points in three consecutive years with the Capitals.
- The third period was a lot more lackadaisical and too free-flowing from the Capitals. They let New York back into the game, which led to Charlie Lindgren’s shutout bid being ruined by a Nic Dowd error.
- Lindgren had his best start in April overall. His first game allowing less than two goals since January 23 in Seattle.
- Huge win for Tony DeAngelo tonight. He managed not to score on his own goal and did not get punched by a teammate for being an intolerable human being.
The Capitals will meet Sidney Crosby and the playoff-less Penguins for their final game of the regular season on Thursday. Let’s hope they send Pens fans home sad.
