NEW YORK (AP) — Oliver Wahlstrom and Mathew Barzal scored in the second period, Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 of 27 shots and the New York Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech scored for New York, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Despite receiving an 26-save performance from Anton Forsberg, Ottawa has lost two out of its last three, and three of five overall. Nick Holden scored the lone goal for the Senators.
Ottawa struck first on Holden’s second goal of the season just 1:56 into the game. The sequence began with Brady Tkachuk winning a battle along the boards for a loose puck, then finding a streaking Tyler Ennis with a pass. Ottawa’s right wing tapped a pass over to Holden, whose shot took an odd bounce over Sorokin before landing behind the goal line.
Despite the suboptimal start, the Islanders played better for the majority of the opening 20 minutes, culminating in Beauviller scoring his seventh goal of the season at 18:07 to tie the game at 1.
The deadlock lasted until Wahlstrom swept a loose puck under Forsberg at 8:42 of the second. Walstrom's 10th of the season,came less than a minute after Sorokin made a spectacular, lunging save on Alex Formenton.
Sorokin kept New York in the lead by knocking aside an Ennis attempt with 7:07 left in the period.
Barzal extended the Islanders' lead to 3-1 with a one-timer off a Scott Mayfield assist at 15:50 of the second.
Any hope the Senators had for mounting a comeback were quashed after Pelech lifted a backhander over Forsberg 7:44 of the third.
New York has won the first two regular season matchups between the Eastern Conference teams. They will finish the season series Mar. 24 at UBS Arena.
PULOCK’S RETURN
Ryan Pulock returned to New York’s lineup after having missed 25 games with a lower body injury. Pulock, who entered the match having averaged 21:07 of ice time in 12 games this season, played 14:20 against Ottawa.
“We’re going to monitor that,” coach Barry Trotz said during his media availability following the Islanders’ optional skate at their practice facility. “I think you’ll probably see him play five-on-five when he gets back and a little bit of power play. We’ll probably limit his minutes.”
Sebastian Aho was assigned to the taxi squad in the corresponding roster move.
STREAKING SENATORS
Despite entering the game with consecutive losses, Ottawa has improved. After beginning the season 4-14-1 in October and November, the Senators won half of the 20 games (10-7-3) they played in December and January.
“Let’s give credit where it’s due: the goaltending,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said before the game. “It’s been outstanding. If you ask any coach in the NHL the number one thing you need is goaltending, and that’s happened back-to-back months here; some exceptional performances by both (Forsberg and Matt Murray). And some hard efforts by a lot of players. Over the last month — we’ve had some injuries — but we’ve had some lines that started to gel.”
NOTES
This was Ottawa’s first visit to Long Island since Nov. 5, 2019, a span of 820 days. … Casey Cizikas returned to New York’s lineup after missing Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Minnesota with what the team referred to as a “non-COVID illness.”
UP NEXT
Senators: Don't play until after the All-Star break; host New Jersey on Feb. 7.
Islanders: Host Seattle on Wednesday. The game had previously been scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29, but the NHL postponed it due to a winter storm that left parts of Long Island under 2 feet of snow.
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