5 Takeaways: Capitals 6, Islanders 3

The New York Islanders were looking for a shake up on Thursday, but got shaken up instead, falling 6-3 to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.
Oliver Wahlstrom, Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead in the first period, but Washington responded with five-straight goals in the second period and six total unanswered to sweep the two-game set. Conor Sheary (2G), Zdeno Chara (1G, 1A), John Carlson (1G, 1A), Nicklas Backstrom (2A) and Justin Schultz (2A) each had two-point games for the Capitals, who extended their unbeaten streak to eight games.
The loss was the third in as many games for the Islanders, who are 0-3-0 on their road trip after dropping both legs of their two-game set to the division-leading Capitals. Here are five takeaways from the nation's capital.

BELLOWS-PAGEAU-WAHLSTROM SPARK EARLY OFFENSE:

In efforts to shake up his lineup and find some more offense, Barry Trotz assembled a Kieffer Bellows-JG Pageau-Oliver Wahlstrom line for Thursday's action.
The Bellows-Pageau-Wahlstrom trio was a combination fans had been eager to see in game action since the start of camp. Putting a pair of triggermen around Pageau shifted the identity of the line from a physical, defense-first unit to an offensive threat.
It paid off in the first period, as Wahlstrom scored his first NHL goal, putting a puck on net while Pageau created some traffic in front. The puck caromed off Daniel Sprong, then Trevor van Riemsdyk before eluding Vitek Vanecek at 9:50. Trotz said he was pleased from the effort of his new and young third line.
"I thought they were pretty good," Trotz said. "The growth of both of those guys Wahlstrom and Bellows], I didn't have any worries with them. They were pretty solid for the most part. I used them - I think it was the end of the first period - they were the last line in the last minute. I thought their structure was good. They were moving their feet. They played pretty well."
That seemingly jarred the offense loose, as Cizikas scored 18 seconds after Wahlstrom's icebreaker, reaching out wide and deflecting a Cal Clutterbuck shot past Vanecek for his first goal of the season.
ISLANDERS AT CAPITALS
ISLANDERS-CAPITALS ARTICLES
[Gamecenter
ISLANDERS-CAPITALS VIDEO
Full Highlights
Wahlstrom's First Goal
Cizikas' Deflection
Lee's PPG

Postgame: Lee & Mayfield
Postgame: Cizikas & Martin
KINGER'S CALLS
Wahlstrom's First NHL Goal
Cizikas' Deflection
Lee's PPG
Lee put the Islanders up 3-0 before the end of the first period, knocking a Mat Barzal rebound past Vanecek at 17:39 of the first period. The goal was Lee's second power-play tally of the year, matching his output from last season. The goal was preceded by a savvy effort from Noah Dobson to prevent the Caps from clearing the zone and the sophomore picked up his fourth assist of the season as a result.

CAPITALS SCORE FIVE IN SECOND PERIOD LAPSE:

It looked like the Islanders had the game under control at 3-0, but the Capitals responded with a flurry of goals in the second period, scoring five times in a 9:23 span to take a 5-3 lead.
It happened fast, with Washington scoring three goals in 2:04 to turn a 3-0 game into a 3-3 deadlock. Conor Sheary put the first crack in the dam, collecting a blocked point shot in the slot, turning and flinging it past Semyon Varlamov at 9:07. Roughly 73 seconds - and two icings later - Sheary had his second goal, deflecting a Zdeno Chara point shot past Varlamov at 10:20 on a play that started with a defensive-zone draw for the Islanders.
"You see some long shifts, a couple of icings in there, a couple where we didn't get the puck out, or make plays at the red line to get it deep," Scott Mayfield said. "Those long shifts wear you down and they put a couple in. That lapse there kind of summed up the game."
Shortly after, Garnet Hathaway tied the score at 11:11, beating Varlamov under the arm off the rush. The tying goal prompted Trotz to use his timeout, but it did not have the calming or reversing effect. John Carlson capped some Capitals pressure with a power-play goal, beating Varlamov with a one-timer at 14:16. Chara made it 5-3 with his first as a Capital - a trademark bullet - at 18:30.
The five-goal period left the Islanders shell-shocked by the end of the middle frame, as it marked just the second time the Islanders had allowed five in a period under Trotz. The last time, Jan. 18, 2020 against the Capitals.
"It's a tough one because we didn't play that poorly for 50 minutes of that game, but a 2-3 minute span we were below average," Trotz said. "I didn't think we were as bad as that, but it all happened all at once and you get into stunned mode. Our poise, our confidence has been rattled and we need to pull that together. We're not going to get outside help. It's the group has to pull together."
After a sideways second period, where the Capitals scored five of their 14 shots, Trotz opted to go back to Varlamov in the third period, as opposed to Cory Schneider, who was backing up.
Down two goals, the Islanders were on the offensive in the third period, while the Capitals were content to clog the middle of the ice and slow things down. It resulted in an 11-1 shot-on-goal advantage for the Islanders, and no action for Varlamov, as the lone Washington shot was an empty-netter for Tom Wilson.
Trotz said he thought about going to Schneider, but didn't hang the loss on Varlamov and wanted to give his workhorse a vote of confidence.

WAHLSTROM SCORES FIRST NHL GOAL:

If there was a bright spot on Thursday, it was Wahlstrom's first NHL goal, as the 20-year-old found the back of the net in his season debut.
Known for his shooter's mentality, Wahlstrom flung a puck on net off the rush, caroming off Daniel Sprong, then Trevor van Riemsdyk and past goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
Wahlstrom's first NHL tally came in his 10th career game and first this season. While it took seven games for Wahlstrom to crack the lineup, the 2018 first-round pick earned praise from Trotz during camp for his work ethic and for coming in, in better shape. Wahlstrom had played 10 games in Sweden's Allsvenskan during the abbreviated offseason, getting some game action in with AIK.
Ross Johnston came out of the lineup for Wahlstrom, while goaltender Ilya Sorokin was placed on the taxi squad to facilitate Wahlstrom's inclusion on the roster.

ISLES MISS OPPORTUNITY VS DEPLETED CAPS:

Despite playing without their captain, starting goalie or two of their top-three centers, Trotz warned the Islanders of taking the Capitals lightly, especially on a seven-game unbeaten streak. The result was an 0-2-0 stretch, with a galvanized Capitals team finding a pair of ways vs the Islanders.
John Carlson's four points (2G, 2A) over the two-game stretch aside, Washington got plenty of offense from their depth players. Justin Schultz (1G, 3A) had four points in the two games, while Connor Sheary (2G), Garnet Hathaway (1G, 1A) and Daniel Sprong (1G) all keyed the Caps offense. TJ Oshie shifted to center for one of the few, if not first, times in his pro career, while Vitek Vanecek stopped 59-of-64 shots in the two wins.
There are no easy games in the NHL, and especially the East Division, but the rest assured it only gets tougher when the Caps get reinforcements. The teams meet again on March 15 and 16 in Washington.
"This ended up being a wasted two games here for us," Trotz said. "All we can do here is make good going forward. There is an urgency level. I think there's an urgency level through the whole division because the whole division is ultra-competitive. There's not much difference between the top teams and the bottom teams. It's going to be the grind. So, let's embrace the grind, the battle and stay in the fight. We've got to stay in the fight."

ISLES STICKING TOGETHER THROUGH ADVERSITY:

A 3-4-0 record through seven games wouldn't normally be cause for major concern, but in a condensed 56-game schedule against divisional opponents, a slow start could prove costly.
The Islanders understand the urgency of the moment, especially in the face of two visceral losses to a rival, which Trotz called a punch in the mouth followed by an uppercut, but remain confident in the group's ability to rally.
Matt Martin and Anders Lee both referenced the team's 0-4-3 stretch heading into the COVID-19 pause as a stretch that seemed more dire in the moment, but wound up preceding the team's deepest playoff run in 27 years.
"Everyone on the team has to find a way to dig a little deeper and find a way to win games," Matt Martin said. "We're kinda falling behind right now, but the good things is that we're going to play the same teams over and over again. We have the utmost confidence in ourselves, that we're going to figure it out, start winning games and climb right back into it."

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head up to Philadelphia for a back-to-back set against the Flyers starting on Saturday night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.