Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux scored Wednesday night for the host Ottawa Senators, who withstood an injury to starting goalie Cam Talbot to edge the skidding New York Islanders, 2-1.
Talbot was credited with the win after stopping all 14 shots he faced before exiting with 11:55 left in the second. Anton Forsberg made 21 saves in relief for the Senators, who won for only the third time in nine games (3-6-0).
Brock Nelson scored in the second for the Islanders, who have lost six straight (0-4-2) and 11 of 13 (2-8-3) this month to fall into 11th place in the Eastern Conference and five points out of the second wild card spot. Goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded 36 saves.
The Senators opened the scoring late in the first, just 10 seconds after a successful penalty kill by the Islanders. Jake Sanderson, nearing the goal line, backhanded a pass to Giroux, whose shot clipped off of and broke the stick of Nelson and bounced to Pinto, who put home the backhand while standing in front of Varlamov with 4:12 left.
A delay of game penalty on Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield 2:58 into the second set up the power play that yielded Giroux’s goal. Rookie Ridly Greig fired a shot from above the left faceoff circle and the rebound caromed to Giroux, who dove and poked the rebound past a kneeling Zach Parise as Senators center Derick Brassard leaped in front of Varlamov at the 3:28 mark. The point was the first for Greig.
Nelson helped generate the Islanders’ goal a little under 13 minutes later. The center won a battle for the puck with Alex DeBrincat near the Senators’ goal line before passing to Sebastian Aho, whose shot was deflected by Forsberg. The puck bounced off Kyle Palmieri and skittered in the crease before Nelson swooped in and put a shot beyond the stick of Forsberg, who had Greig in front of him, with 3:53 left.
The Islanders pulled Varlamov with about 1:30 left in the third and had several chances with the extra skater, but a shot by Mathew Barzal sailed high and off the glass with about 50 seconds left. Forsberg turned back successive shots by Ryan Pulock and Palmieri with about 25 seconds remaining before gloving a shot from Jean-Gabriel Pageau with 18.6 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
