Islanders shut out Capitals in Game 5, win Eastern First Round series

Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves and the New York Islanders defeated the Washington Capitals 4-0 in Game 5 to win their Eastern Conference First Round series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday.

Josh Bailey had a goal and two assists for the Islanders, the No. 6 seed in the East. Their opponent in the Eastern Conference Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has not been determined.

"It's a great win for us, we're obviously happy to move on," Bailey said. "You turn the page. We'll enjoy it tonight, but I think everyone realizes there's still a long way to go. We're going to have a tough opponent, no matter who it is."

WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Capitals highlights]

Beauvillier is tied with Bo Horvat of the Vancouver Canucks and Nazem Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche for the NHL postseason lead with six goals. He has nine points in nine games.

"I'm just trying to go out there and play your best and help your team to win," Beauvillier said. "That's kind of my main focus these last couple of weeks, and it's been working. It's going to be the same focus moving on. It's really not something I'm going to think about."

Braden Holtby made 13 saves for the Capitals, the No. 3 seed, who scored three goals at 5-on-5 in the series and have been eliminated in the first round in back-to-back seasons since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

"I think looking back at our time here in Toronto (the East hub city), for whatever reason our team wasn't able to mentally and physically get to our game for long enough," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "We had one game where we did it, and then, other than that, we weren't able to find the game that gives us the best chance to have success. That's going to be something that we'll be reassessing and looking at this whole process.

"It's a first time going through something like this. It's a different mental and physical challenge. It's important that we step away and reassess everything because this is not acceptable for our organization."

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was minus-3 and had three shots on goal. Washington was 0-for-2 on the power play.

"The mistakes that we did the first couple games cost us," Ovechkin said. "But we tried to come back. … Obviously, every time you lose a series, it's tough. But the mistake we made in the previous games obviously cost us the series, and it's tough. But there's nothing you can do right now but move on."

The Capitals were coached by Barry Trotz when they won the Cup. He became Islanders coach two weeks after that championship. New York has won a playoff series for a second straight season; it swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round.

"Those guys are champions in my mind, they always will be," Trotz said of the Capitals. "It was one of those series where as a coach when you go through a series like that where you've had some success with a group of guys, it tears you a little bit because there's so many good memories.

"But at the same time, you work for someone else and you want to beat that group, just because we're competitive. We don't want to lose."

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead when Beauvillier scored on a one-timer from Brock Nelson at 10:19 of the first period. It was New York's second power-play goal in 20 opportunities in the series.

Beauvillier scored again at 9:33 of the second period. Bailey entered the Capitals zone and drew both Brenden Dillon and John Carlson toward him before he passed the puck to Beauvillier, who roofed a backhand to make it 2-0.

"It's been a lot of fun to play with him; he's really stepped up his game, been a big leader for us," Bailey said of Beauvillier. "[He's] scored some big goals. I think that second goal, just paying the price, getting to the net, he's doing a lot of things well. It's a lot of fun to play with him."

Varlamov preserved the two-goal lead with a glove save on Nicklas Backstrom's shot from the right circle at 1:22 of the third period.

Nick Leddy (17:47) and Bailey (18:31) scored empty-net goals for the 4-0 final.

"That's how we wanted to play, and the players bought into it and they executed it," Trotz said. "Obviously with the lead, we wanted to frustrate them, and I think we did a pretty good job of jamming it right up and making it real hard for them."

NOTES: Backstrom (concussion protocol) returned after missing the previous three games. He was injured by a hit by Islanders forward Anders Lee in the first period of Game 1. … The Islanders were without forward Cal Clutterbuck, who was injured from a hit by Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas in the second period of Game 2, and forward Derick Brassard was scratched. They were replaced by forwards Michael Dal Colle and Ross Johnston. ... New York was swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round last season.