The Islanders couldn’t come up with a third successive magical final period in a row.
Instead, their game Saturday against the Capitals functioned as a trip back down to Earth after they had swept through three opponents in the wild-card race, and the Islanders lost 5-1 at UBS Arena to give Washington’s playoff chances a gasp of air.
The Islanders ceded the first wild-card spot to the Penguins, who beat the Flyers to draw level on points, but with two games in hand.
The Islanders put in the same kind of effort they had for much of their win Thursday over Pittsburgh, but did not have the miracle comeback at the end.
The Capitals looked like the more energized team and had the easier time getting north as the Islanders, one man healthier with the return of Cal Clutterbuck, couldn’t seem to find the right line combinations.
The chance to put together another rally was there for the taking, with the Islanders trailing just 2-1 going into the third period, but they couldn’t capitalize.
Washington all but sealed the win when the Islanders committed the cardinal sin of losing track of Alexander Ovechkin at the front of the net just after a Capitals power play expired.
His initial attempt was saved, but Anthony Mantha easily cleaned up the rebound to make it 3-1 at 4:15 into the third.
Then, with 7:42 to go, Nic Dowd put a bow on the Capitals’ victory with a wrister past Semyon Varlamov. Fifty-nine seconds later, Rasmus Sandin’s wrister floated in to pour salt on the wound.
The combination of going 0-for-4 on the power play while taking four penalties themselves did not help the Islanders, who had a promising start to the game, but held the lead for less than two minutes.
Pierre Engvall got the Islanders on the board with his first point since he was acquired from the Maple Leafs on Feb. 28, with a cross-crease feed that went off Washington’s Alexander Alexeyev and in 5:18 into the first.
But it was not even 90 seconds later that Dylan Strome drew the Capitals level with a wrist shot that beat Varlamov nearside.
T.J. Oshie gave Washington the lead with just 47 seconds left in the first period, tapping a pass from Sandin into an unguarded net following a defensive breakdown.
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The undercurrent of the match, in which Clutterbuck returned from injury, was that the Islanders didn’t seem to know what they want their lines to look like with him back.
At various points, Clutterbuck skated on the first, third and fourth lines with the whole thing looking like a game of musical chairs, with Simon Holmstrom and Josh Bailey both moving around as well.
Given the chemistry between Casey Cizikas and Hudson Fasching, that was a foreseeable issue, but still one the Islanders may need time to work through.
With Jean-Gabriel Pageau soon to return and Mathew Barzal expected back before the end of the regular season, finding the right combinations won’t get any easier for coach Lane Lambert, who will need to start healthy scratching a lineup mainstay when Pageau gets back.
As for Saturday, the chance for offensive production seemed to erode somewhere within the line blender. That is not something the Islanders can afford to continue.
The Islanders have built themselves a margin for error, or at least the ability to play a less than perfect month to finish the season.
Even with the win, the Capitals are still five points behind with only one game in hand. But the Islanders would be kidding themselves to think they can lessen their urgency now.
All it would take for the Panthers, Senators, Sabres, Capitals or even Red Wings to hop the Islanders is a bad few games.
With a swing through California taking up the next week for the Islanders, it’s pivotal to keep their foot to the floor.
Their 6-2-1 stretch without Barzal is still well above expectation.
But earlier in the season, the Islanders put themselves in a position to need every single point down the stretch.
That this loss matters at all is a direct consequence of those errors.
