Oshie, Capitals overpower Islanders
NEW YORK — T.J. Oshie scored twice, Dmitry Orlov and Nicklas Backstrom each had a goal and two assists, and the first-place Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 7-3 Thursday night.
Andrei Burakovsky added a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller and John Carlson also scored to help Washington improve to 10-4-3 in its last 17 games against the Islanders. Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists and Philipp Grubauer finished with 35 saves for his 11th win of the season.
Brock Nelson, Andrew Ladd and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, who lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Christopher Gibson started and gave up five goals on 12 shots before he was pulled midway through the second period. Jaroslav Halak came on and finished with eight saves.
Orlov gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with 2:43 left in the first as he beat Gibson for his ninth of the season.
Burakovsky extended Washington’s lead at 3:12 of the second, and Backstrom made it 5-2 with his 18th with 9:38 remaining in the middle period, ending Gibson’s night.
Carlson got his 13th with 4:19 left in the third to give the Capitals a four-goal lead.
Pulock got the Islanders to 6-3 just 52 seconds later, but Oshie scored an empty-netter for his second of the night and 14th of the season with just under two minutes to go.
The Islanders were coming off a 5-2 win at Calgary on Sunday night that snapped their eight-game skid (0-4-4) with Gibson making 50 saves. However, their defensive struggles returned against the Capitals.
The Islanders have allowed a leaguehigh 252 goals and are 15-23-8 since finishing November at 15-7-2. They will almost certainly miss the playoffs for the second straight year and the third time in five years. New York has won only one playoff series — in 2016 — in the nine-year career of their captain John Tavares, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July.
Nelson opened the scoring at 2:19 of the first as he took a pass from rookie Tanner Fritz while skating down the slot before beating Grubauer for his 16th. James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead Toronto to a road win over Buffalo. Patric Hornqvist’s second goal of the game gave Pittsburgh the lead in the third period, and the Penguins went on to beat Montreal the road. Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh. James Reimer tied a season high with 46 saves to lead Florida over Boston at home. Making his first start in six games, Reimer earned his third shutout of the season. Kyle Connor scored twice to reach 25 goals this season and Winnipeg beat Chicago at home.
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Semyon Varlamov stopped 44 shots and Colorado beat St. Louis on the road.