Senators add to Isles losing

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In Ottawa, the Senators’ Craig Anderson made 37 saves in a 4-3 win over the visiting New York Islanders on Thursday night.

It was the fifth straight loss for the Isles.

Athyony Duclair had a goal for the Senators – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

“After our last performance (7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday), we wanted to come in here and make sure that we didn’t lay an egg here on home ice,” Anderson said. “Right from the get go, I thought we played hard, played together, played as a group and got rewarded for our play.”

Ryan Pulock, Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders.

“I thought Mathew was the best player on the ice today,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “He was dynamic, he was skating, he was on the right side of the puck, he was setting up people, he was dangerous all night. We need more from the other guys in our lineup. We’ve got some guys that are top guys for us that have to be a difference-maker for us right now because it’s not coming very easy.”

The Isles are 2-7-2 in their last 11 games.

“It’s disappointing to lose this one,” New York forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “We need all the points right now, and we’ve got to find our game as fast as we can. I think we need more urgency in our game. So we’re going to go back (to New York), refocus and get back at it. I mean, it’s desperation time right now.”

Brady Tkachuk, Connor Brown, Anthony Duclair, and Mikkel Boedker (shorthanded)  scored for the Sens.

“It’s fun to play against the playoff teams, the elite teams on our side of the League,” Boedker said. “We came out and we played hard and I think it was a good win. [Anderson] played well, so that was good to see.”

[WATCH: All Islanders vs. Senators highlights]

Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves in the loss.

“It’s tough, but that’s what good teams do, they find a way,” New York defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “We need to just bear down. We’ve just got to get the thinking out of our heads and just go to work and just be simple and just have some fun playing the game and get our swagger back and get back to work.”