Caps drop game to Islanders

In Elmont, the New York Islanders scored three times off the power play, and the Washington Capitals were scoreless in six chances on Thursday in a 5-1 win over the Isles.

The loss kept the Caps from climbing into the third position in the Metropolitan Division, they are one point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Special teams didn’t go our way tonight,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “It seemed like we had a lot of good looks, but we couldn’t get to the interior. They are a tight team defensively and generated some chances 5-on-5. That was the difference in the game.”

Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves in the New York win.

“It doesn’t matter if it was Tampa Bay or Columbus, Washington or Philadelphia, it’s another team and it’s a game we have to try to win, and we will do that,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby ruined the shutout bid with less than a minute left in the third period.

“We didn’t play a good game,” Jonsson-Fjallby said. “They were faster than us and had a lot of odd-man rushes. We had a lot of shots but didn’t score.”

Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored off the power play to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.

“‘Varly’ played really solid,” Trotz said. “I really wished that he would’ve gotten a shutout tonight. He deserved it, he played really solid. His rebound control was really solid. He had a couple of in-tight looks that he made look very easy, which is telling you that he’s playing pretty well. It was good for him to get a good win to end the season.”

The Isles pushed the lead to 4-0 off strikes from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Palmieri (power play).

Josh Bailey  also scored for the Islanders to give them a 5-0 advantage.

“We’re certainly not going to give up,” Bailey said. “You want to end things on the right note, regardless of the situation you’re in. That’s what we intend to do, at least to go out and give a good effort every night. I think we owe it to the fans. Their support this year has been like every other year.”

Vitek Vanecek made 21 saves in the Caps loss.

“We knew they would be working hard,” Washington’s Anthony Mantha said. “We will get back on the train. We need to have a great game tomorrow and finish strong.”