The Islanders ascent up Mount Wild Card is becoming more pleasant than painful.

Yes! The peak is in sight!

The New York Islanders' ascent up Mount Wild Card is becoming more pleasant than painful.

Last night's 2-1 win over the Capitals in Washington was remarkable in many ways, not the least of which being the shootout bug being eliminated like ants by a disinfectant.

Hey! A first shootout victory after five S.O. losses rates not only three cheers but a handstand to boot; not to mention a low bow in the direction of Ilya Sorokin who's now 5-0-1 in his last six starts and with 28 wins on the season. He defused 25 of the Caps' 26 shots; including a Wow-Sir on Alex Ovechkin.

When you beat the Caps, you have to disable Washington's scoring machine. For the most part, Ovie was well-muzzled by a stout Nassau defense. Not surprisingly, Ilya The Illustrious was particularly pleased about beating his Russian comrade.

"Facing him is a challenge," Sorokin observed post-game. "Personally, I feel I can show what I can do against these guys."

But it wasn't easy. In a kitty-bar-the-door game -- such as it was -- one mistake can be fatal, especially since the Visitors had suffered through an agonizing 0-5 shootout schneid until last night.

Apart from Sorokin, who stopped two out of three shootout Caps, he was bolstered by goals from Bo Horvat -- YES! Bo!!-- and sizzling hot Kyle Palmieri.

And speaking of white heat, how about that trade deadline ace acquisition, Pierre Engvall. The ex-Leaf has been blossoming since Lou Lamoriello acquired him and once again Lucky Pierre obliged by scoring the first goal; a nice habit he's acquired since coming to Elmont. He now has a career-high 17 red lights.

Engvall has snugly fit on to the Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri line not to mention coach Lane Lambert's overall system.

"We stayed with the structure," Engvall explained. "This club works hard, and that's the biggest thing."

Let's face it; we're talking about an up-for-grabs 1-1 game that the Isles eventually found a way to win. And that "way" is reached by executing playoff-type hockey in the NHL's homestretch.

"Our game is to be patient on both sides of the puck," said Lambert.

Now that Horvat has delivered an open-net goal and a shootout red light over his last two games it's Go-Bo all the way. Like Engvall, Horvat has become very much an Islander.

"We don't change our game through 60 minutes," he asserted, "and that frustrates teams."

With away games in Tampa Bay (Saturday) and Carolina (Sunday) next on the agenda, it figures that the coaching staff will go with Semyon Varlamov in one of the two matches. Varly looked good in his last outing and should be fresh.

But coach Lambert doesn't want the Isles to get ahead of themselves, “You can never really look towards the finish line. The message is a game-by-game thing and if you take care of that, then eventually the results will be the results, and you'll get to where you want to go, but certainly, we have to focus on every game.”

Although not at center stage for the moment, it should be noted that the foot soldiers are showing their stuff. Puck-Savvy Pageau won 76 percent of his face-offs against Washington and less-experienced Sam Bolduc teamed well with Noah Dobson.

Meanwhile, D-man Alex Romanov extended his career-high assist total to 20 with his helper on Engvall's goal along with Brock Nelson who assisted in his second straight game. Nelly is the team point leader with 69.

Ah; and now the most meaningful stat of all: since Mat Barzal's injury, the Islanders record is 11-4-2.

A few Bottom Lines:

* The club is taking care of business; but there's still business to take care of.

* Essentially -- accounting for the usual bumps -- Lambert's skaters played a solid 60-minute-plus-OT game and especially dominated the third period.

* Engvall is making Lou Lamoriello look like a genius.

And -- let's not forget -- while Mount Wild Card is in sight, its peak hasn't been mounted yet! Ergo: there's still monumental climbing to be completed!