NEW YORK _ While Barry Trotz was receiving closure on his tenure with the Capitals as he received his Stanley Cup ring and faced his former team for the first time, the Islanders were judging themselves on how far they've progressed under their new coach.
The quick analysis: Trotz misses Alex Ovechkin on the power play.
The Islanders had their two-game winning streak snapped in a 4-1 loss to the Capitals on Monday night at Barclays Center as they went 0-for-4 on the power play, leaving them 0-for-11 over the past five games.
Thomas Greiss made 20 saves for the Islanders (12-9-2), who are 9-2-0 against Metropolitan Division opponents. Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots for the Capitals (14-7-3), who extended their winning streak to six games, and Tom Wilson scored twice.
Wilson's power-play goal at 14:21 of the third period effectively clinched it for the Capitals after the Islanders had killed off a five-on-three power play that lasted one minute, 30 seconds. Thomas Hickey tripped Nicklas Backstrom at 12:34 with Tanner Fritz already in the penalty box for hooking Dmitrij Jaskin.
The Capitals shut out the Islanders over the final 59:24.
"The bond I had with that group of players and the organization, winning a Cup, that's everlasting," Trotz said. "That's undeniable."
Sentimentality aside, all these divisional games loom as crucial contests as the playoff race intensifies.
Heading into Monday's play, and with just over a quarter of the season played, eight points separated the eight teams in the Metropolitan Division. Two of the teams outside the postseason bubble are the Devils, a playoff team last season, and the Penguins, who won back-to-back Cups in 2016-17.
Trotz, along with associate coach Lane Lambert and director of goaltending Mitch Korn, was presented his Cup ring in the Capitals' dressing room prior to the game. He called it "closure" on that chapter of his life.
"My whole deal right now is I'm trying to do the same thing with the young men on this side," Trotz said. "It is closure. I'm a New York Islander. I'm not a Washington Capital."
The Islanders missed the playoffs the past two seasons and have won just one postseason series since 1993. Trotz's Capitals beat them in seven games in the first round in 2015 in what Trotz called the most physical playoff series in which he's been involved.
"It's a good measuring stick," Greiss said of facing the Capitals.
Trotz added, "You get weighed and measured every game in this league, but they're the Stanley Cup champions."
The Islanders jumped to a 1-0 lead just 36 seconds into the game as Valtteri Filppula scored his seventh of the season with a backhander low in the slot. But Wilson, with goals in four straight games and with 10 points in eight games since returning from suspension, tied it at 1 at 2:50 of the first period with an unscreened shot from the right circle through Greiss' pads.
Greiss also was beaten over his left shoulder from the right circle by Nic Dowd's snap shot just under the crossbar, which gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 7:58 of the second. The Islanders had taken the first eight shots of the second _ and then just two more before the second intermission _ but failed on two early power-play attempts. Their power play was 0-for-3 in the period.
