For the second straight game, Zack Smith was the spark for the Ottawa Senators as they thumped the New York Islanders, 6-2, in Brooklyn.
“That’s where I need to go to score, screen and tips, stuff like that,” Smith said as he talked about his first goal, a greasy effort from down low. “When the team is playing well and the puck is going well, if you’re there, you’re going to get chances.”
Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan,Derick Brassard, and Tom Pyatt also scored for the Senators.
“This is a back-to-back where we travelled, where we get to bed at 3:30 in the morning and we come here and we win 6-2,” Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher said of his team’s effort after two games in two nights. “At the end, we were playing a very patient game just not to allow any breaks because they are a very stretch team … when you look at our special teams, we were 50 percent on the power play and were 100 percent on the penalty kill.”
Anders Lee, and Anthony Beauvillier were the Isles goal scorers.
“We’re not scoring as many goals and we’re giving up too many,” the Islanders’ John Tavares said. “So have to find a way to correct that.”
New York has lost five straight and the Brooklyn boo-birds are not far away as the Isles are not competing in many games of late.
“It’s a frustrating game. … It needs to be a better effort through the end of the game. Right there for the taking again,” the Isles’ Travis Hamonic said of the loss and skid.
Jean-Francois Berube made 28 saves in the loss.
Andrew Hammond got the start in the Ottawa nets but left in the first after sustaining an apparent lower body injury off a save attempt.
WATCH: All Senators vs. Islanders highlights
Mike Condon came into the game in relief and made 22 saves to help the Sens to the win.
“It’s never good to come in, especially when a guy gets hurt and when I saw [Hammond] make that move, right away I knew that was something pretty serious,” Condon said. “Hopefully he can get back quick.”
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