Wahlstrom, Barzal push Islanders over Senators

NEW YORK (AP) — Oliver Wahlstrom and Mathew Barzal scored in the second period, Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 of 27 shots and the New York Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Anthony Beauvillier and Adam Pelech scored for New York, which snapped a two-game losing streak.

Despite receiving an 26-save performance from Anton Forsberg, Ottawa has lost two out of its last three, and three of five overall. Nick Holden scored the lone goal for the Senators.

Ottawa struck first on Holden’s second goal of the season just 1:56 into the game. The sequence began with Brady Tkachuk winning a battle along the boards for a loose puck, then finding a streaking Tyler Ennis with a pass. Ottawa’s right wing tapped a pass over to Holden, whose shot took an odd bounce over Sorokin before landing behind the goal line.

Despite the suboptimal start, the Islanders played better for the majority of the opening 20 minutes, culminating in Beauviller scoring his seventh goal of the season at 18:07 to tie the game at 1.

The deadlock lasted until Wahlstrom swept a loose puck under Forsberg at 8:42 of the second. Walstrom's 10th of the season,came less than a minute after Sorokin made a spectacular, lunging save on Alex Formenton.

Sorokin kept New York in the lead by knocking aside an Ennis attempt with 7:07 left in the period.

Barzal extended the Islanders' lead to 3-1 with a one-timer off a Scott Mayfield assist at 15:50 of the second.

Any hope the Senators had for mounting a comeback were quashed after Pelech lifted a backhander over Forsberg 7:44 of the third.

New York has won the first two regular season matchups between the Eastern Conference teams. They will finish the season series Mar. 24 at UBS Arena.

PULOCK’S RETURN

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