Barzal, Sorokin lead Islanders past Senators
Ottawa's Anton Forsberg makes 26 saves in the loss
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 also had goals for New York, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
"It's been a process for us this year," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "It's just been a very difficult year in a lot of ways."
"We played right 'til the end which is important," Holden said. "No point did we stop playing our game."
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.
"I was fortunate that [I] put it over a shoulder and it kept rolling and rolling," Holden said.
WATCH | Barzal scores wicked goal to lead Islanders past Senators:
Despite the suboptimal start, the Islanders were the better team for the majority of the opening 20 minutes, culminating in Beauviller scoring his seventh goal of the season with two minutes left to tie the game at 1.
"It was pretty huge," Trotz said. "That got us to even ground after one and then I thought our game ramped up."
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.
"He was big again," New York defenceman Scott Mayfield said. "He's been doing that all season for us. He makes the saves he has to and then he makes the extra special ones, too. When he's going like that and we can provide some offence for him, it's a good night."
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.
