SURGING ISLES GRIND DOWN SENS
NHL’s hottest team smothers Ottawa with stingy defence in 10th straight win
ISLANDERS 4, SENATORS 1
The New York, New York sweep wasn’t to be for the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
One night after their offensive explosion against the New York Rangers, the Senators ran smack dab into NHL’s hottest squad, dropping a 4-1 decision.
In the process, the Islanders ran their winning streak to a perfect 10 games, the second-longest victory stretch in franchise history.
The Senators hung around for the longest time against the defensively stingy Islanders, but the home side broke a 1-1 deadlock with a penalty shot goal by Cole Bardreau late in the second period.
Bardreau, awarded the shot after being hauled down by Mark Borowiecki following a Vladislav Namestnikov giveaway at the Senators blue-line, beat Senators goaltender Craig Anderson between the legs.
Bardreau became the sixth player to score his first NHL goal on a penalty shot.
“I read it all the way,” Anderson said of the shot. “I’m frustrated, because I did read it. I reacted to it. I got most of it, but not enough.”
From there, the Senators’ comeback hopes disappeared when Casey Cizikas — short-handed — and Josh Bailey scored 40 seconds apart midway through the third period.
Consider it one step forward, one step back for the Senators, who entered the game on a high following their 6-2 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Unlike that contest, where the Senators preyed on numerous Rangers turnovers and overall sloppy play as the game went on, the Islanders gave up little from start to finish.
Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss was good, but he didn’t need to be great, given how few opportunities the Senators received in close. If it’s any consolation, it’s the same formula the Islanders have successfully employed while rolling off victory after victory in the past month.
“There’s a reason why they had won nine in a row ( before Tuesday),” said defenceman Thomas Chabot. “They don’t give you much. They stick to their game plan and they wait for you to make a few mistakes and they bury on it.”
It was a textbook Islanders performance. During the first nine games of the winning streak — they haven’t lost since Oct. 11 — they had allowed only 16 goals against.
The Senators started well enough, not allowing a shot until the seven-minute mark.
In the what-else-is-new department, Jean- Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring for the Senators short-handed, converting a Namestnikov pass after a miscommunication behind the Islanders net.
Pageau, who scored twice in the victory over the Rangers, leads the Senators in goals (six) and short-handed goals (two).
That lead, however, didn’t last long. Only 39 seconds later, the Senators couldn’t clear the puck from in front of Anderson and Cal Clutterbuck cashed in.
The Senators have now allowed at least one power play goal in each of their past five games.
Anderson, who played in the road-trip-opening 5-2 loss to Boston, was solid in the latter stages of the first period as the Islanders pressured the Senators defence with a strong forechecking effort.
There was more and more of the same as the game continued, wearing down a Senators squad that had prevailed in Manhattan 24 hours earlier.
“They’re a very good hockey team and we can learn a lot from the way they play,” said defenceman Ron Hainsey. “There’s a real commitment to their style of play. We had an opportunity with our power play to get back into it (in the third period), but they ended up making a play and it got away from us a little bit at the end.”
The Senators come home to face the Los Angeles Kings at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
GOOD PROBLEM FOR TROTZ: Typically, a head coach sticks with the goaltender who posted a shutout in his previous game, but the Islanders’ Barry Trotz didn’t go with Semyon Varlamov, who blanked the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 on Saturday. Then again, he’s dealing with an ideal situation of having a pair of redhot netminders, both of whom had played in seven games before meeting Ottawa. Greiss sported a .933 save percentage, while Varlamov had a .929 mark.
BRASSARD HITS 800: Ex-Senator Derick Brassard, who entered Tuesday’s game on a career-high five-game goal scoring streak, also hit the 800 NHL game mark on Tuesday.