Without Alex Ovechkin, and two games without John Carlson, the Capitals saw their reign in first place in the East division come to an end this past week.
But first, they completed a three-game sweep of the Islanders on Tuesday. Ovechkin’s replacement, Daniel Sprong, started the scoring, his third in just his second game back in the lineup. Despite getting multiple chances on Islanders rookie goalie Ilya Sorokin, the score was still the same late in the third period. Two bad penalties from Washington gave New York a glorious five-on-three powerplay opportunity but Vitek Vanecek held down the fort and solidified the 1-0 victory for the Caps.