Bo Horvat scored the go-ahead goal 4:29 into the third period and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves, lifting the visiting New York Islanders to a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Friday.
New York’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a short-handed goal late in the second period, and Mathew Barzal found an empty net with 1:16 remaining in the third. Barzal was a healthy scratch for disciplinary reasons on Thursday after he was late to the rink for the morning skate.
The Islanders snapped their second three-game losing streak of the season and held Washington captain Alex Ovechkin off the scoresheet. Ovechkin has 899 career goals.
Tom Wilson scored a goal early in the second period and Logan Thompson turned aside 20 shots for the Capitals, who have mustered just two goals total while dropping three in a row.
Skating in on a 2-on-1 rush, Horvat accepted a feed from Emil Heineman and wired a shot from the left circle that beat Thompson over his glove inside the near post. Horvat has scored all of his team-leading seven goals over his past eight games.
Early in the second period, Washington defenseman Jakob Chychrun unleashed a shot from along the left-wing boards that provided a juicy carom to Wilson. The rugged Wilson, who had gained a step on New York rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, converted from the right circle to open the scoring at 4:48.
The goal was Wilson’s team-leading sixth of the season and fifth in his last eight games.
Thompson made a sprawling glove save on Jonathan Drouin to preserve the slim advantage midway into the second period.
New York finally solved Thompson with 5:02 remaining in the second period.
Simon Holmstrom’s shot from along the left-wing boards was deflected home by Pageau, who skated through the slot. Washington unsuccessfully challenged the play in a bid for an offside call prior to the goal, leading to a power play for the Islanders.
Washington forward Pierre-Luc Dubois sustained an upper-body injury following a faceoff late in the first period. He did not return to the game. The Capitals already were playing without center Dylan Strome, who missed his second game in a row due to a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
