3 Takeaways: Pageau Paces Isles in Bounce Back Win Over Capitals

The New York Islanders bounced back in a big way on Friday night, skating to a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals at UBS Arena.

JG Pageau paced the Isles with four points (2G, 2A), while Julien Gauthier (2G, 1A) recorded the first two-goal and three-point game of his career. Noah Dobson rounded out the scoring for the Islanders, while Bo Horvat had a pair of assists.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 of 27 for the Islanders, losing his shutout bid with 17.9 seconds to play in the third period.

Charlie Lindgren started the game for the Capitals and stopped all three shots he saw before leaving the game in the first period with an injury. Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 of 29 in relief.

With the win, the Islanders take the season series 2-1-1 and washed away some of the sour taste of Wednesday’s 7-0 loss to Pittsburgh.

“We have a lot of character in this room, and we weren't happy with our effort [on Wednesday],” Pageau said. “We owned it and we came back today all for business and we did the job.”

ISLANDERS BOUNCE BACK IN BIG WAY:

The Islanders vowed to be better after Wednesday’s 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and they delivered on Friday night.

“We had a good character response all night long,” Head Coach Lane Lambert said. “We were better defensively, more committed in terms of finishing and closing and I just thought that we played a pretty solid game all the way around.”

They were assertive offensively, pushing the pace in the first period, but ratcheted up the offense as the game wore on, eventually out-attempting the Capitals 71-50 on the night. Noah Dobson led the Islanders with 11 shot attempts, including his goal to make it 2-0 in the second period that saw him step into a Mathew Barzal drop pass.

They scored in bunches, netting a pair of goals 1:10 apart in the second period and scoring twice in 18 seconds in the third. It was a complete reversal from Wednesday, when the Isles saw their night snowball in the other direction.  Carrying a 2-0 lead into the third period, Lambert was happy with how his team laid down the hammer.

“There's been games when we've had opportunities to put the game out of reach and haven't and then it becomes close at the end,” Lambert said. “I thought we did a real good job of recognizing the situation.”

While the Islanders were quick to acknowledge they didn’t box out well for Sorokin on Wednesday, the netminder had a fine bounce-back effort himself. The only blemish on his night was losing his shutout bid with 17.9 seconds to play as a missed pokecheck took a funky bounce and beat him five-hole, with Nicolas Aube-Kubel getting credit.

PAGEAU LINE PACES ISLANDERS:

The trio of JG Pageau, Julien Gauthier and Simon Holmstrom led the Islanders offensively, accounting for four of the team’s five goals.

Pageau opened the scoring at 4:51, blasting a one-timer high-glove side on Darcy Kuemper off the rush. It was pressure from Holmstrom – who was without a stick – in the defensive zone that caused the Rasmus Sandin turnover that led to the rush for Pageau’s goal. The goal was one of several good looks for Pageau in the period, as he and Simon Holmstrom did everything but score on a shorthanded rush later in the frame.

“It's not something that we get every night,” Pageau said. “We had the bounces and we were able to finish our chances. Obviously, it's fun to contribute offensively.”

The line gathered steam again in the third period, as Gauthier netted a pair of goals – both off Pageau feeds – 18 seconds apart. Pageau shot for Kuemper’s outside pad forcing the Capitals netminder to kick the puck into the slot where a streaming Gauthier was gunning in. Pageau and Gauthier were sprung on a two-on-one immediately after with Gauthier cutting across the crease and backhanding a goal around a sprawled out Kuemper.

“He’s just using his speed and his size and he's putting together a little bit of a string of goals and assists,” Lambert said of Gauthier. “It's nothing more than that. Just go up and down and try and create opportunities that way. And he's done a good job.”

Pageau put a bow on it with his second of the game at 14:26, with a puck caroming off a linesman’s skate right to the center before skating in and roofing a puck past Kuemper. Pageau’s four-point night was the third of his career in the regular season. The French-Canadian center also had a big night at the face-off dot, winning 11 of his 14 draws (79%).

MARTIN RETURNS TO LINEUP, CIZIKAS OUT WITH ILLNESS:

Matt Martin made an immediate impact in his return to the lineup on Friday.

The physical winger threw two big hits in the opening minute of the Islanders’ 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals, releasing some pent-up energy in his first game since Nov. 15.

“It's nice to start to be able to get right into it right away,” Martin said. “You never want to try to ease into a hockey game, in my mind I want to be aggressive right away and be physical and assert myself back in the game that way. The opportunity presented itself and simply finished a couple of hits.”

Martin had been sidelined with an upper-body injury for the past month and a half, briefly coming off IR at the end of November when it appeared the Islanders may need warm bodies during a banged-up stretch.

Martin took his usual spot on the left side of the Identity Line, but his linemates configuration was anything but usual. Casey Cizikas missed Friday’s game with an illness, meaning Cal Clutterbuck shifted from right wing to center, with Hudson Fasching moving to the right.

Martin finished the game with one shot, three hits and a takeaway in 11:32 TOI while Clutterbuck went 2-for-6 in the face-off dot. Fasching had a game-high four takeaways.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders close out 2023 with a rematch against the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year’s Eve. Puck drop is at 6 p.m.