Islanders vs Capitals Winners Losers: Hard to beat Caps and refs

There were no goals in this game. For a full 65 minutes, not a single goal was scored between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. While the Capitals were gifted a number of opportunities, the Islanders had to dig for theirs.

I’m not sure what Mathew Barzal has said to referees over his short career but whatever it was it must have been terrible because number 13 couldn’t buy a call to save his life tonight. He deserved at least two-or-three calls to go his way tonight. At least. The penalty he “took” was wildly undeserving.

The season series between the two sides showed a weak PK for the Isles with a 50% efficiency on the season. Taking penalties could have been a recipe for disaster today. Thankfully the Islanders penalty kill showed up today.

The Isles played well, even if they didn’t end up with two points tonight. They now drop to third after both the Penguins and Bruins picked up wins in their games tonight.

I won’t go into the officiating controversy more, but we’ll certainly cover that in our post-game podcast over on Patreon. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

New York Islanders only take one point in 1-0 loss to Washington Capitals

Winners

Semyon Varlamov (1.00SV%, 28 saves): Varlamov picked up his fifth shutout of the season. That ties his career-high from 2014-15 where he put p a 0.921SV% and 2.56SV% with the Colorado Avalanche.

In the second period, when the Isles took their foot off the gas. Semyon Varlamov stood tall and stopped all 14 shots he faced. Yet again, the Isles were bailed out by their goalie today.

Ryan Pulock (4 Blocks, 1.23GS): Ryan Pulock had the best game score for a skater on both teams today. He didn’t (obviously) get a point, nor did he get a shot on the net during the game. But he put up a great 0.73xGF and 0.3xGA. Just stellar defensive play by number 6.

Anthony Beauvillier (1 Shootout “Goal”): He was the only Islanders shooter to get one through Ilya Samsonov on the shootout. Eberle tossed his into Samsonov’s glove while Brock shot his wide.

Losers

Leo Komarov (1 SOG, 4 Hits): Maybe it’s not fair to Leo, but the fact that he was still out there on the top line with a fairly healthy team is ridiculous. He did very little today to justify that type of deployment. Play him in the bottom six, but to keep him on the top line is getting ridiculous.

Michael Dal Colle (1 SOG, 1 Hit): He had a good shift in the first period but then faded as the game progressed. I don’t imagine he’s in the lineup for the next game. Oliver Wahlstrom‘s abilities on the PP and at getting pucks on the net are just too valuable to have him sit again in favor of MDC.

Andy Greene (-0.50 GS): The Islanders veteran defender had the lowest game score for either team tonight. His play essentially cost the team half a goal today. His d-partner Noah Dobson was just ahead of him at -0.27.