The Washington Capitals defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 at UBS Arena on Sunday, extending their winning streak to four games. Tom Wilson scored twice and added an assist, while Logan Thompson made 30 saves in the victory. Bo Horvat tallied the lone goal for the Islanders, who outshot Washington 31-18 but fell to 1-3-1 on their homestand.
The Capitals improved to 15-9-2 with their seventh win in eight games, starting a four-game road trip on a strong note. New York, now 13-10-3, extended their winless streak to three games (0-2-1).
Washington struck first on a power play at 7:37 of the opening period. Ryan Leonard drew a tripping penalty on Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, leading to Dylan Strome winning the faceoff. Leonard passed to Alex Ovechkin, who sent a no-look pass to Wilson for a redirection past Ilya Sorokin, giving the Capitals a 1-0 lead.
Thompson was stellar early, denying Anders Lee on a 2-on-1 just 42 seconds in and stopping a deflection from Lee at 9:32. He also thwarted Jonathan Drouin's 2-on-1 and Mat Barzal's wraparound attempt.
In the second period, Wilson intercepted Sorokin's pass behind the net intended for Schaefer and backhanded it into the empty goal at 13:58, making it 2-0. “I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those in my career on a goalie who turned it over up the middle like that,” Wilson said. “It’s kind of lucky... So, I’ll take it.”
The Islanders dominated shots 22-14 through two periods but couldn't score. In the third, Horvat cut the deficit to 2-1 on a power play at 13:43, burying a rebound of Ryan Pulock's shot after Lee tipped it. Horvat's 15th goal of the season came blocker side.
Aliaksei Protas added an empty-net goal at 18:49, outracing an Islander to beat the icing. Ovechkin sealed it with his 909th career goal into an empty net at 19:29, also assisting on Wilson's first.
Sorokin made 14 saves on 16 shots. “We’re getting a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities,” Horvat said. “It’s a matter of bearing down... eventually it's going to start going in.”
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery praised Thompson: “He gave us a chance early on to find our footing.” Islanders coach Patrick Roy added, “We did everything right... sometimes you need to continue to play the way we are and believe that things will go our way.”
The Islanders host Tampa Bay on Tuesday.