3 Takeaways: Islanders Fall 2-1 to Senators

The New York Islanders winless streak reached six games on Wednesday night, as the Isles fell 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.
Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, but it was not enough to overcome goals from Long Island native Shane Pinto and a power-play goal from Claude Giroux (1G, 1A). Jake Sanderson (2A) also a two-point game.

With the loss, the Islanders drop to 0-4-2 on their current winless stretch, 1-7-3 in their last 11 and 2-8-3 in January. The Islanders have scored 18 goals over the past 11 games and have not scored a third period goal over that span.
"We battled and you can't take that away," Casey Cizikas said. "We battled hard. We worked. It's just unfortunate and we have to find a way to win these games. It's definitely tough, but we have to dig deep and we just got to find a way."

OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES CONTINUE:

The Islanders offensive struggles continued on Wednesday night, as the Isles were limited to one goal for the sixth time in the past 13 games, and two-or-fewer for 12th time in their last 14 contests.
"We're pressing it," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "We just can't find a goal when we need it right now. We've got to find a way."
SENATORS 2, ISLANDERS 1
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The Islanders were outshot 14-10 in the first period and out-attempted 36-20 in a period that saw them defending against a volume-shooting Senators team. It was both quantity and quality, as Ottawa had eight high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five compared to none for the Islanders.
The Sens, seemingly content to send point shots into traffic for deflections, opened the scoring at 15:48 of the period, as Pinto, a Franklin Square native, backhanded a blocked Giroux shot past Semyon Varlamov (36 saves). JG Pageau missed a buzzer beater by one second at the end of the first in what was a tough break in a series of recent ones.
"Varly played really well and we'd like to help him out," Nelson said.
The Islanders outshot the Senators 26-24 through the final two periods, including 14-7 during a third period push, though the Sens still retained a 10-7 advantage in high-danger chances. There were spurts, including an Aatu Raty-Mathew Barzal-Anthony Beauvillier shift in the final minute of the second period, and a point-blank chance for Pageau in the third, where they looked dangerous. Despite some good looks, they couldn't solve Forsberg (21 saves on 22 shots), who was solid in relief of Cam Talbot (14 saves), who left midway through the game with a lower-body injury.
"The chances are there we just have to capitalize on them and that's the frustrating thing is we're getting those opportunities," Cizikas said. "It's not like we're not working for them. We just have to bury them when we get them."

SPECIAL TEAMS DECIDE GAME:

In a low-scoring game, special teams were ultimately the difference.
Giroux's goal to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead early in the second period held up as the game-winner, as Giroux pounced on a Ridly Greig rebound in the right circle and deposited it for a power-play goal. The goal snapped a 10-game drought for Giroux and also accounted for Greig's first NHL point in his big league debut.
While the Senators season hasn't gone according to plan, Ottawa's power play entered the game ranked fourth overall in the NHL with a 26.3% conversion rate. Ottawa went 1-for-3 with four shots not counting an Alex DeBrincat shot off the post.
As for the Islanders, the power play went 0-for-3 with three shots on goal. With Noah Dobson missing his second straight game, Samuel Bolduc, playing in his second NHL game, played 2:59 with the man advantage in Dobson's place.
The Islanders power play is now 3-for-59 since Dec. 10.

NELSON POINT STREAK HITS FOUR GAMES:

Nelson accounted for the lone Islanders tally on Wednesday night, collecting a loose puck and depositing it at 16:07 of the second period.
With the goal, Nelson re-took sole possession of the team goal scoring lead with his 18th tally and sole possession of the overall point lead with 43. The goal also extended Nelson's point streak to four games (3G, 1A). He has goals in three of his last four games after breaking out of a 14-game goal drought.
"That's a positive for sure," Lambert said of Nelson. "He's starting to score again and we're going to need him."
With the primary assist on Nelson's goal, Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to two games after missing the previous 17 with an upper-body injury.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders return home to UBS Arena for a back-to-back set beginning on Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.