Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Julien Gauthier each scored twice Friday night for the host New York Islanders, who bounced back from their most lopsided regular-season shutout loss in more than six years by beating the Washington Capitals 5-1 in Elmont, N.Y.
Pageau and Noah Dobson scored twice in a 70-second span early in the second period before Gauthier and Pageau combined for three goals in fewer than five minutes in the third for the Islanders, who had fallen to the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-0 on Wednesday.
The two-goal game was Pageau’s first since Jan. 3 at Vancouver, while Gauthier scored two goals for the first time in his five-year career. Pageau assisted on both of Gauthier’s goals in his third career four-point game and first since April 3, 2022.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped the first 31 shots he faced as the Islanders collected at least one point for the 18th time in 21 games (12-3-6).
Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored with 17.9 seconds left in a potentially costly loss for the Capitals, who lost starting goalie Charlie Lindgren and defenseman Martin Fehervary to upper body injuries 6:46 into the first period. Lindgren, who had three saves, appeared to be dealing with some discomfort earlier in the period while Fehervary departed after taking a hard check behind the net from Islanders center Anders Lee.
The Islanders outshot the Capitals 10-8 in the first before their back-to-back strikes in the second. Pageau fired a shot beyond Darcy Kuemper’s glove at the 4:51 mark before Dobson capped an end-to-end rush by taking a drop pass from Mathew Barzal and beating Kuemper with a slap shot.
Pageau and Gauthier hooked up twice for insurance scores just beyond the midway point of the third. Gauthier scored his first goal with 9:50 left, when he buried Pageau’s long rebound. He then took a feed from Pageau, shuffled to his backhand and scored from point-blank range.
Pageau scored again with 5:34 left.
–Field Level Media
