The New York Islanders thought their late-game performance was rewarded Tuesday night.
So did the Ottawa Senators, albeit for entirely different reasons.
The Islanders will look to begin building a winning streak and the Senators will aim to bounce back from a convincing defeat Thursday night, when New York visits Ottawa in the first meeting this season between the Eastern Conference foes.
Both teams were off Wednesday following their eventful games Tuesday. The Islanders overcame a two-goal third-period deficit and edged the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in the shootout in Elmont, N.Y. The Senators surrendered three goals in the final 20 minutes and fell to the host Buffalo Sabres, 5-1.
The skidding Islanders appeared headed for another loss when Michael Bunting scored 7:44 into the third to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead. But New York, which is playing without injured first-liners Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair, ramped up its offensive aggressiveness deep in the Pittsburgh zone and scored twice in the next 5:04.
Simon Holmstrom collected the rebound of Kyle Palmieri’s shot, dragged the puck around defenseman Ryan Graves and fired a shot over goalie Alex Nedeljkovic’s glove before Jean-Gabriel Pageau capped a flurry in the Penguins’ zone by scoring with 7:12 left.
“The first two periods kind of felt maybe that we were just a little hesitant holding on to the puck a little too long,” said Palmieri, who had a goal and an assist.
Both teams had an empty power play in overtime before Bo Horvat scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Islanders their second win in the last six games (2-4-0).
“We’ve done enough to be in games and have them go either way,” Palmieri said of the Islanders, who have lost five games by two goals or fewer. “Tonight was an opportunity for us to come from behind and do it in a fashion where we felt like we earned the two points.”
Ottawa’s inconsistent season continued Tuesday with its most lopsided loss. The Senators are tied for 11th in the NHL in goals and are 11th in goals allowed but have scored one goal or fewer four times while allowing five goals or more four times.
The Senators outshot the Sabres 25-23 in the first two periods and pulled within 2-1 when Ridly Greig scored 7:31 into the second. But Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored twice in a 16-second span in the first minute of the third for Buffalo before JJ Peterka iced the victory with his second power-play goal at the 12:08 mark.
The Senators, whose power play ranks fourth in the NHL at 30.8 percent, were 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
“We lost a special team battle,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “I thought we weren’t strong enough on the puck in certain moments of the game. Sometimes you get what you deserve and we got it. We got what we deserved tonight.”
While the Senators are 5-1-0 at home, Tuesday’s loss dropped them to 1-5-0 on the road. Only the Vegas Golden Knights (0-3-1) have fewer road points.
“Give up two quick ones and it’s 4-1 and we’re chasing the game,” Senators center Josh Norris said. “We haven’t been great on the road and we’ve got to find a way to start winning some games on the road.”
–Field Level Media
