In Washington, DC, Kyle Palmieri was credited with the deciding goal on penalties on Wednesday night, and the New York Islanders downed the Capitals, 2-1.
The win pushed the Islanders to five points clear of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and six points ahead of the Florida Panthers.
The Penguins have two games in hand on the Isles.
“I just think that certainly guys know what the standings are,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said, “but again I know our team and I know what our focus is, and our focus is now [Saturday at] Tampa [Bay]. So, we just have to take care of each game individually and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
It was the first win in six tried for the Islanders in the skills competition this season.
“We didn’t give up a ton of chances and when we did, [Kuemper] came up big for us,” Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said. “I thought we did some good things and had some chances, but both goalies played well. Unfortunately, it came down to a shootout and you never know with those.”
Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves in the New York win.
The Isles improved to 39-28-9.
Pierre Engvall scored at 2:25 of the middle frame to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
“I think they did what we did to them,” Engvall said. “We stayed above and didn’t give them many chances. They took after us and did the same thing. It wasn’t easy creating scoring chances, but we got the points and it feels good.”
The Capitals dropped to 34-32-9 off their fifth loss in six games. Washington trails the Penguins by five points.
“It’s tough that we lost a point,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “A point’s a big thing right now. It’s frustrating. It was tight out there. We knew it was going to be that way. We expected this type of game, low scoring, not a lot of shots, not a lot of chances.”
Conor Sheary hit for a goal four minutes after Engvall to tie it, 1-1.
“The puck just came to me in the slot, I had a little bit of room,” Sheary said. “Kind of thought I could catch him by surprise with the backhand and maybe sliding one way. I don’t really score on my backhand too often, but I got him on that one.”
Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves
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