Caps sweep three from Isles

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In Washington, DC, the Capitals and New York Islanders went back and forth to a near stalemate on Tuesday night.

“We’re playing well. It’s a good time of year to be hitting our stride,” Washington’s Tom Wilson said. “I think guys are feeling comfortable with the system. I think we were feeling comfortable with the system earlier on, but there was still a little bit of hesitancy. Now I just feel like it’s a little smoother.”

Vitek Vanecek made 18 saves and the Caps came out on top, 1-0.

“It wasn’t too many shots, but you try and stay focused all game and try and help the teammates [by making] a save,” Vanecek said. “They helped me a lot. That’s why they didn’t shoot too many shots.”

Daniel Sprong scored the game’s only goal with less than two minutes gone in the opening frame.

“It was awesome,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Just the life in the building. We appreciate the cut-out human beings for 40-plus games, but to actually have some live ones in there that move around and they yell and they’re fired up and they get up and give an ovation if things are going well, those carboard people just don’t do that.”

The Isles have lost five of their last seven and their offense has evaporated over that stretch, averaging just over two goals a game.

“A 1-0 loss against a very good team’s not what you want,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said, “but it’s not coming real easy right now and a lot of that’s due to a little bit on our part and a little bit on the competition as well.”

The win capped a three-game sweep of the set with New York, the Caps have won seven of their last nine.

“They got the first goal and I think when things aren’t going well, it seems like it’s harder to kind of break through and get a win,” the Islanders’ Matt Martin said. “There are certainly areas that we need to be a lot better, but we know that we’re a good hockey team. We’ve overcome adversity in the past multiple times, and we have confidence that we’re going to do it again.”

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves in the hard luck loss.

“[Varlamov] skated today,” Trotz said. “A little bit of soreness, so we kept him out, but I don’t see that being a problem going forward at all.”