Wilson, Capitals surge past former coach Trotz, Islanders

NEW YORK -- Tom Wilson spoiled Barry Trotz's first game against the Washington Capitals since last season's Stanley Cup championship by getting two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders at Barclays Center on Monday.

Wilson has scored in four straight games for Washington (14-7-3), which has won six in a row without injured forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie. Nic Dowd broke a tie in the second period, and Braden Holtby made 32 saves.
Trotz coached the Capitals for four seasons before he resigned on June 18, less than two weeks after helping Washington win its first NHL championship. He joined the Islanders three days later.
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Islanders highlights]
"It's one of those games we had to grind out," Wilson said. "We had some big plays, some big shots at important times, but they played well. They had a lot of traffic in front. They were doing stuff that Barry preaches.
"They've lost pieces over the years, but they're as hard, if not harder to play against than they have been in the past. It was a good challenge for us."
Valtteri Filppula scored for New York (12-9-2), which went 0-for-4 on the power play. Thomas Greiss made 20 saves.
"We had some chances on the power play," Trotz said. "We weren't able to find the back of the net. That's something we've got to continue to rectify here."
Filppula gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the game when he took a pass from Ryan Pulock in the left face-off circle, skated into the slot and put a backhand shot past Holtby for his seventh goal of the season.
Wilson tied it 1-1 at 2:50 of the first period when his wrist shot from the right circle got past Greiss.

Dowd gave Washington a 2-1 lead at 7:58 of the second period when he took a pass from Dmitrij Jaskin and roofed a snap shot from the right circle over Greiss.

New York had three power plays in the second period.
"We had our chances, we had our power plays," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "A couple of them were good, a couple of them were awful.
"If you look at our power play tonight versus the past few nights, it's much better. We're getting looks. A couple of them, we obviously had trouble getting in the zone, but that's going to happen. It obviously looks brutal and it's frustrating to watch, but we had some good chances tonight for sure."
Wilson made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 14:21 of the third period when he took a pass from Backstrom and snapped a shot from between the circles for his second of the game. It was his sixth goal in eight games.

"A huge goal for us," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "Special teams played a huge role tonight."
Alex Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal with 22 seconds remaining for the 4-1 final score.
"The kills for us were really important, something we've been working hard at," Reirden said. "We continued to put together some real solid kills, and I think that helped us gain some momentum in the game."

They said it

"We're doing good things right now. Commitment and effort, we're on the same page there. There's still some growing pains structurally at times, which is a good thing. That's something you can work out. But our commitment and our effort level are on the same page right now, and that's where you have success." -- Capitals forward Tom Wilson
"I've seen those young men on the other side grow. They hang in there, hang in there and then you get your chance, you sort of take advantage of it, and they did. … That's what champions do. They find ways to get it done." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz

Need to know

Trotz, Islanders associate coach Lane Lambert and director of goaltending Mitch Korn received their Stanley Cup championship rings from the Capitals before the game. Trotz addressed the Washington players in what he called a special moment but said that when the game started "it was business as usual." … Ovechkin's goal was the 625th of his NHL career and moved him into a three-way tie with Jarome Iginla and Joe Sakic for 15th place. … Nicklas Backstrom had three assists and moved past Peter Bondra for second in Capitals history with 827 points. Ovechkin leads with 1,150. … John Carlson tied Kevin Hatcher for third among defensemen in Capitals history with his 277th NHL assist. … Washington forward Devante Smith-Pelly sustained a lower-body injury in the first period and will be evaluated in Washington on Tuesday. … The Islanders activated forward Matt Martin from injured reserve. He was minus-1 with eight hits in 8:49 of ice time in his first game since he sustained an upper-body injury Nov. 1.

What's next

Capitals: Host the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, NBCSWA+, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Islanders:At the Boston Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NESN, MSG+, NHL.TV)