Stanley Cup playoffs: Islanders shut out Capitals to advance in five games

Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Semyon Varlamov shut out the team that drafted him and the New York Islanders knocked the Washington Capitals out of the playoffs in the first round by beating them 4-0 Thursday night in Game 5.

Coach Barry Trotz has now advanced in the post-season two years in a row since the Capitals opted to let him leave rather than giving him a raise after he led them to the Stanley Cup.

The Capitals erased a two-goal deficit in Game 4 Tuesday to avoid a sweep, but didn’t have the same response in their second consecutive elimination game. Goaltender Braden Holtby didn’t get much help in allowing two goals on 15 shots in what could be his final game with the organization.

Beauvillier scored on the power play midway through the first period and then at even strength in the second, taking a big hit into the net from Tom Wilson while finishing his second goal of the game. Wilson’s Capitals teammates were unable to muster much in the way of pushback even with top centre Nicklas Backstrom back after going into concussion protocol and missing the past three games.

Empty-netters by Nick Leddy and Josh Bailey sealed it for New York, which didn’t miss a beat without injured alternate captain Cal Clutterbuck. Varlamov finished with 21 saves.

The Islanders will face Boston if Montreal beats Philadelphia, and the Flyers if top-seeded Philadelphia hangs on to defeat the Canadiens.

The Montreal Canadiens announced forward Brendan Gallagher will miss the rest of their first-round playoff series against Philadelphia with a broken jaw that will require surgery, the result of a crosscheck to the face from Matt Niskanen late in the third period of Wednesday’s chippy Game 5.

The Flyers defenceman was suspended for Friday’s Game 6 following a hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety but, unlike Gallagher, can return for a potential Game 7.

Benched the previous night with his team getting shut out for the second time in 48 hours, Gallagher snapped a long scoring drought in Montreal’s 5-3 victory that brought the deficit in the best-of-seven series to 3-2. After the incident with Niskanen, Gallagher, with blood dripping from his mouth, stayed on the bench and was involved in spirited discussions with both the Flyers and on-ice officials.

The Canadiens not only forwarded in-house video of the incident from ice level to the NHL, but also posted a slowmotion version to social media.