The Washington Capitals had a prime opportunity to jump over the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the Metropolitan Division and blew it with a stinker of an effort against the New York Islanders.

Alex Ovechkin is kinda important, eh?

• The Caps had the clear advantage in shot attempts at five-on-five but so do most teams that play the Islanders. When it comes to scoring chances the two teams left locked at 20 apiece and when the Caps don’t massively outplay their opponents in that regard it can usually lead to games like this because their goaltending is genuinely miserable.
• I am very done with Ilya Samsonov. Four goals allowed on 26 shots against. He dropped his stick yet again on a goal against and he was beaten from deep multiple times which has been a huge issue for him. Just go back and watch the messed-up exchange with Dmitry Orlov goal and ask yourself why the heck he does a 360, no scope, YY, backflip before getting scored on. How is that an NHL goaltender? A reminder that Vitek Vanecek is 2-0 against the Islanders this season with a 1.44 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage.
• The Pens got blown out by the Oilers so the Caps indeed could have fully leaped over them in the race to not play the Florida Panthers in the first round. Instead, we got that.

That's the 52nd time this season the Capitals have scored the game's first goal, which leads the NHL.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 26, 2022

• The power play was absurdly terrible in a 0-for-4 effort that included a shorthanded goal against.
• Nick Jensen has a new career-high in points with 21 which is cool because I really enjoy Nick Jensen.
• Two games left in the season and both on the road in New York…on back-to-back days. The Islanders and then the Rangers for the Caps and the Pens have just the Blue Jackets left on Friday.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.