OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Noah Dobson scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and the New York Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 Monday night for their ninth win in 11 games.
Oliver Wahlstrom, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brock Nelson also scored, and Mathew Barzal had two assists for the Islanders in the opener of a four-game road trip. Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 shots to win for the third time in his last four starts.
“We were well-prepared and I thought the guys battled hard,” Pageau said. “A lot of sacrifice, a lot of blocked shots, a lot of battles that we won, and (Varlamov) in net was outstanding. He made some really amazing saves for us.”
Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, Drake Batherson also scored and Tim Stutzle added two assists for the Senators. Cam Talbot finished with 31 saves as Ottawa fell to 1-7-1 in their last nine games.
“I think we did a lot of good things,” Giroux said. “We had a lot of chances, we played well offensively and I thought we were going to come back and tie it up.”
With the score tied 1-1 in the second period, Dobson stepped into a clearing attempt by the Senators along the boards inside the blue line and fired a shot that beat Talbot for his fifth with 6:45 left.
Pageau made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:21 of the third as he backhanded the rebound of Dobson’s one-timer from straightaway inside the blue line. It was his second.
Giroux cut the lead to 3-2 off a behind-the-back pass by Brady Tkachuk with 6:52 remaining. It was his eighth.
With Talbot pulled for an extra skater as Ottawa looked for the equalizer, Nelson scored an empty-netter to seal the victory.
“We had two good chances at the end of the game, but there was lots of time left and we have to hold on to the puck and wait until there’s a breakdown,” Giroux said. “It’s something we’ve worked on, but something we have to keep working on.”
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead on Wahlstrom’s power-play goal midway through the first period.
“It’s nice to score the first goal, that’s for sure,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “We’ve had some comebacks, too, but tonight I thought we did a really good job with the lead and it was really a character win. We fought through a lot of adversity tonight.”
Ottawa managed to tie it during a brief 5-on-3 advantage at 8:48 of the second as Batherson one-timed a pass from Stutzle for his second goal in 11 games. It was the Senators’ only goal on six power-play chances.
