Brock Nelson scored the game’s only goal with 6:55 left in the third period Wednesday night and Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves as the New York Islanders moved into a first-place tie with the Capitals by beating Washington 1-0 in Uniondale, N.Y.
New York earned its third win in a row while the Capitals fell for the third time in five games (2-3-0).
The two teams had 19 shots apiece over the first two periods before a far more open third, when they combined for 19 shots before the Islanders finally broke the tie.
Ryan Pulock fired a shot from the blue line, and Josh Bailey, battling for position with Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen, leaped, whirled and got a stick on the puck. Nelson swooped in and put back the rebound between goalie Vitek Vanecek’s legs.
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The Capitals pulled Vanecek with a little under two minutes left but got just one more shot on Varlamov, who posted his fourth shutout of the season. Vanacek recorded 38 saves.
It was the second 1-0 win of the season for the Islanders, who also beat the visiting Boston Bruins by that score on Jan. 18. It was the first regular-season shutout defeat for the Capitals since a 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 27, 2020, and their first 1-0 loss since they fell to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 3, 2019.
The Islanders outshot the Capitals 12-7 and had the biggest scoring chances in the first period. Noah Dobson had a shot carom off the post, and Vanecek sprawled to get a shot on a rebound attempt by Cal Clutterbuck before covering up the puck fewer than five minutes after the opening faceoff.
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The Capitals then outshot the Islanders by the same count in the second, but they fell to 0-for-2 on the power play for the night. Alex Ovechkin had a shot flutter over the crease in the opening minute while Varlamov turned back Evgeny Kuznetsov at point-blank range just after the midway point.
New York also failed to score on its two man-advantage opportunities.
–Field Level Media