WASHINGTON — This week wasn’t a total loss for the Islanders.

Ugly as the end to this four-game road trip was, the Islanders will get to call it a gritty road win, as they leveraged Ilya Sorokin’s best game so far this season and Bo Horvat’s game-winning goal to beat the Capitals 3-1 on Friday night at Capital One Arena.

Mat Barzal was back in the lineup after missing Thursday’s loss as a disciplinary measure for being late to the team bus, and top prospect Cal Ritchie made his Islanders debut on Barzal’s left wing, but it didn’t do much to inject offense for the Islanders, at least at the start of the night.

They struggled to get out of their own zone, let alone generate much, against the Capitals — forcing the Islanders to fall back on Sorokin, who spent long chunks of the night ba

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