OTTAWA, ON – Travis Hamonic, John Tavares and Kyle Okposo scored goals in the third period to help the New York Islanders defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Friday.
The Islanders got a lift from the return of Hamonic, one of their top defensemen, who had missed the previous four games with a lower-body injury. He was solid in his own zone and broke a 2-2 tie at 2:58 of the third period when he took a pass from Tavares at the right point and beat Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond through traffic.
Tavares knocked in a rebound at 7:03 and Okposo bounced a shot into the net off a Senators defender at 14:00. New York dominated the third period, outshooting Ottawa 14-4.
Nick Leddy and Cal Clutterbuck scored goals and center Frans Nielsen had two assists for the Islanders (25-15-6) and Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves. The Islanders, who were coming off a four-day break, are 3-0-1 in their past four games.
“Overall, a pretty good road win. We were coming out of a little bit of a layoff,” said Tavares, who ended a six-game goal drought. “We just want to carry this momentum forward.”
Hamonic and Islanders coach Jack Capuano said it was good to see Tavares rewarded for his hard work lately.
“I think John is such a good player. I don’t have to tell you how good a player he is,” Hamonic said. “He wants to win. He’s probably one of the more competitive people I’ve ever met in my life. Maybe he hasn’t scored as much as he would like in the last couple of weeks, but he has been playing so well for us. He goes up against the best players every single night.
“I think we have a ton of depth and other guys are stepping up at different moments in the game, but he’s certainly been our best player all season, no questions asked.”
Capuano said Tavares was finally rewarded after several games of generating chances but not goals.
“It’s good to see Johnny get on the board,” he said. “He works so hard. You can just see the work ethic tonight. He’s been like that for us going through this, not a drought, just not getting the production that he wants. It’s real important to get secondary scoring, especially on the road when they get the matchups they want against 91.”
Defenseman Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist for the Senators (22-20-6). Bobby Ryan scored his 16th goal of the season and Hammond made 29 saves. Ottawa lost on back-to-back nights and has lost eight times in regulation in its past 12 games.
The frustration is mounting for Ryan. He called the Senators’ 6-3 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, in which they trailed 5-0 after one period, embarrassing. He didn’t like what he saw in the third period against the Islanders.
“We had problems in that third period all over the ice from everybody,” Ryan said. “Guys that simply don’t want the puck. Guys that simply won’t go hunt the puck down. When you are not buying into the system, it’s going to take its toll. They did everything right in the third period and we did everything wrong to compound the issue.”
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Ryan tied the game at 2:05, two seconds after a penalty to Mark Martin for tripping Ryan off the second period’s opening faceoff expired.
Karlsson finished off a pass from behind the net by Curtis Lazar for his 10th goal of the season. But a turnover by Ottawa rookie Max McCormick behind his own net led to Clutterbuck getting the puck in the slot, and he scored his 10th of the season at 11:10.
The Senators have slipped to three points out of a playoff berth.
“It’s gut-check time for us here,” defenseman Mark Borowiecki said. “This is kind of when you find out what a team’s made of. This is that stretch where teams are going to start pulling away. That kind of parity you see in the East is going to go away. So for us to make that push and stay in the hunt, we’re going to have to really look each other in the eye and make sure we have what it takes.”
That means improving things like the penalty-killing, which put them in a hole when Leddy scored to make it 1-0 at 3:49 of the first period with Karlsson in the box for holding Tavares. Leddy’s shot from the point found its way through a crowd in front of the net and went past a screened Hammond.
It was Leddy’s third goal of the season and his second in three games.
The Senators entered the game ranked 29th in penalty-killing at 75.2 percent. Ottawa managed to kill off two other Islanders power plays in the first period.
The Islanders’ power play was 6-for-52 in the past 15 games.
The Senators allowed the first goal for the 33rd time in 48 games.
Senators wing Milan Michalek sustained a fractured finger on his right hand in the second period and will be out indefinitely. Michalek missed 16 games with a fractured finger earlier this season.
The Islanders are scheduled to host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. The Senators play the New York Rangers at home on Sunday.
