Islanders again can't hold third-period lead, fall to Capitals in overtime

WASHINGTON — Yet again, the Islanders couldn’t hold a lead in the third period and lost.

This time it was 5-4 in overtime to the Capitals on Friday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Jakob Chychrun won it at 1:20 of the extra period.

It marked the fifth time in six games the Islanders (8-10-6) could not hold a third-period lead. Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves.

The Capitals (16-6-1), who got two goals from Tom Wilson, entered the match having outscored opponents 27-14 in the third period while the Islanders had been outscored 36-20.

So Dylan Strome brought the Capitals, 2-for-4 on the power play, within 4-3 at 1:20 of the third period on a man-advantage goal after Anders Lee was called for hooking Taylor Raddysh off the opening faceoff.

The Islanders were 0-for-3 on the man advantage, unable to snap the 4-4 tie after Nic Dowd slashed Oliver Wahsltrom in the offensive zone at 16:10 of the third period.

The game had seemingly turned over the course of four minutes in the second period.

The Capitals thought they had taken a 3-2 lead at 14:05 as defenseman John Carlson knocked the puck in while they skated six-on-five with a delayed interference call coming against defenseman Alexander Romanov.

But Islanders coach Patrick Roy successfully challenged Hendrix Lapierre interfered with Varlamov. Then, the Islanders successfully killed off Romanov’s penalty and Kyle MacLean, with his first goal of the season, redirected Bo Horvat’s feed to the far post to give them a 3-2 lead at 16:28.

Simon Holmstrom’s second goal, a tip of defenseman Dennis Cholowski’s shot from the left point, made it 4-2 at 18:09. Holmstrom was elevated to the top line for the game with Jean-Gabriel Pageau a late scratch because of a lower-body injury.

The Islanders scored first for the fifth time in six games as Holmstrom roofed a wrist shot over Thompson’s blocker at 3:36 of the first period. The lead was short-lived as Pierre Engvall allowed Dowd to get to the crease for a tying backhander at 4:50.

Wilson’s power-play slap shot from the slot gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 12:10 of the first period with Maxim Tsyplakov in the penalty box for delay of game.

But Lee tied it at 2-2 at 1:15 of the second period with an elite deflection as defenseman Noah Dobson flung a puck that was going well wide of the crease to the short side from the left point.

Notes & quotes: The Islanders reported Pageau is day to day . . . Lee’s assist on Holmstrom’s first-period goal was the 200th of his career . . . Holmstrom had the first two-goal game of his career…Rookie defenseman Isaiah George now has assists in three straight games . . . Hudson Fasching drew back into the lineup for the first time in 11 games, dating to Nov. 5 . . . Defenseman Grant Hutton remained a healthy scratch . . . Ilya Sorokin will start on Saturday night against the Sabres at UBS Arena.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.