In Elmont, the New York Islanders fell behind early, 1-0, to the Ottawa Senators.
Ilya Sorokin settled down after the marker and made 26 saves to backstop the Isles to a 4-1 win on Tuesday.
“He was big again,” Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield said. “He’s been doing that all season for us. He makes the saves he has to, and then he makes the extra special ones, too. When he’s going like that and we can provide some offense for him, it’s a good night.”
Nick Holden gave the Sens the early 1-0 lead with less than two minutes gone in the opening period.
“Obviously, I didn’t like the start again, but once it was 1-0, the game sort of ramped up,” New York head coach Barry Trotz said. “I don’t think they even had really a shot or a chance for about 17 minutes. I liked the response.”
Anthony Beauvillier knotted the game, 1-1, with under two minutes left in the frame.
“We haven’t really had the best starts in the past couple of games, but ‘Soroky’ was good all game,” Beauvillier said. “He kept us in the game, big saves at key moments. He gave us a chance to win again tonight.”
New York moved to the .500 mark, 16-16-6, with the win.
Oliver Wahlstrom and Mathew Barzal scored in the middle frame to give the Isles a 3-1 lead.
“It was a little different seeing the lineup we thought we’d have to start the year,” Trotz said. “It’s been a process for us this year. It’s just been a very difficult year in a lot of ways, but it was good to see Ryan back in there.”
Adam Pelech iced the win with a marker in the third period for the 4-1 final.
“You have to be willing to play a real patient game against them and beat them 2-1. If you think you’re going to come in here and get a bunch of goals, you’re [going to] end up like we did and get one, or zero,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “So again, give them credit. They had a lot of energy. I thought we pushed and we did everything we could. We just couldn’t hang on long enough.”
Senators fell to 14-22-4.
“Obviously, playing a back-to-back, all that stuff, that’s all part of playing in the NHL,” Holden said. “Everybody has to play these games, and that’s something that I think as we play more of them, you learn how to play these games. You need to make sure you’re taking what you’re given. Sometimes you have to just change a little of how the game is going to how you’re playing. So it’s still learning stuff, I think.”
Anton Forsberg made 26 saves in the Ottawa loss.
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