The New York Islanders thought their late-game performance was rewarded Tuesday night. So did the Ottawa Senators, albeit for entirely different reasons. The Islanders will look to begin building a winning streak and the Senators will aim to bounce back from a convincing defeat Thursday night, when New York visits Ottawa in the first meeting this season between the Eastern Conference foes.
Both teams were off Wednesday following their eventful games Tuesday. The Islanders overcame a two-goal third-period deficit and edged the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in the shootout in Elmont, N.Y.
The Senators surrendered three goals in the final 20 minutes and fell to the host Buffalo Sabres, 5-1. The skidding Islanders appeared headed for another loss when Michael Bunting scored 7:44 into the third to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead. But New York, which is playing without injured first-liners Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair, ramped up its offensive aggressiveness deep in the Pittsburgh zone and scored twice in the next 5:04.
Simon Holmstrom collected the rebound of Kyle Palmieri's shot, dragged the puck around defenseman Ryan Graves and fired a shot over goalie Alex Nedeljkovic's glove before Jean-Gabriel Pageau capped a flurry in the Penguins' zone by scoring with 7:12 left. "The first two periods kind of felt maybe that we were just a little hesitant holding on to the puck a little too long," said Palmieri, who had a goal and an assist. Both teams had an empty power play in overti.
