At long last, a victory.
A month and a day long, to be exact, for the Islanders.
The Islanders snapped an 11-game losing streak while extending their point streak to four games with a 5-3 win over the Senators on Tuesday night at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre. Captain Anders Lee scored two of their three second-period goals as, after a sluggish first period, the Islanders consistently played near the opponent’s net.
It marked their first win since a 2-0 victory at Winnipeg on Nov. 6 and their most goals since a 6-2 win at Montreal two nights before that.
Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves for the last-place Islanders (6-10-5).
The Islanders and Senators are the only two NHL teams this season to have games postponed because of their COVID-19 outbreak, the Islanders missing out on two games from Nov. 28-30 while the Senators had three games affected from Nov. 16-20.
Casey Cizikas remains in COVID-19 protocol for the Islanders.
But, the Islanders looked more right on Tuesday than they have in a while.
"There’s some areas that we’re still lacking and some of that is a little bit of the sustained energy that you need to play at this level," coach Barry Trotz said before the game. "Hopefully, we get into a rhythm."
Trotz kept the same lineup from Sunday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Chicago at UBS Arena, meaning Matt Martin again sat in favor of burly Ross Johnston.
Lee opened the scoring at 3:00 of the second period, not connecting on a forehand shot at the crease but regaining the puck and sliding it past Filip Gustavsson (22 saves) on the backhand. Lee then looked skyward in relief after snapping a six-game point drought.
Oliver Wahlstrom regained a 2-1 lead for the Islanders at 14:06, also pushing a backhander past Gustavsson at the crease. Lee, out on the next shift, made it 3-1 just 27 seconds later as he converted at the left post.
The main negative in the second period came on Josh Norris’ power-play one-timer from the right circle to tie it at 1 at 9:44. Scott Mayfield was called for a double-minor high-sticking on Norris at 8:12, marking the second straight game a careless stick penalty by the defenseman led to a man-advantage goal. He also took a first-period hooking penalty far behind the play that lead to Chicago’s first goal on Sunday.
Kieffer Bellows, low in the left circle, did score his first goal of the season to make it 4-1 at 6:26 of the third period. Defenseman Nick Holden’s shot off the skate of Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson did cut the lead to 4-2 at 8:11 but ex-Senator Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s four-on-four goal at 12:26 again made it a three-goal lead.
However, Wahlstrom’s turnover led to Alex Formenton’s shorthanded goal at 15:54 of the third period, the fourth shorthanded goal the Islanders have allowed.
The Senators (7-16-1), who had a three-game winning streak snapped, did make up one of their three postponed games with Monday night’s 3-2 shootout win over the Devils, arriving back in Ottawa from New Jersey in the early morning hours.
And both teams eased into the game with a low-event first period, which ended 0-0 thanks to Sorokin as the Senators held a 10-3 shot advantage and a 19-9 edge in chances after two failed power plays. On the second man advantage, Norris barely missed converting at the right post, then hit that post with a one-timer.
Sorokin made his best save sliding to his right to rob Tim Stutzle at 18:56 of the first period as the Senators had a two-on-one.
