Game Preview: Islanders vs Senators

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (2-2-1) VS OTTAWA SENATORS (3-3-0)

7:30 PM | UBS ARENA | BUY TICKETS

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The New York Islanders welcome the Ottawa Senators into UBS Arena on Thursday night in the first of three meetings between the two teams.

The Islanders are looking to snap a three-game winless stretch (0-2-1), most recently dropping a 7-4 decision to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night. Cal Clutterbuck (1G, 1A), Kyle Palmieri (PPG), Simon Holmstrom and Anders Lee strung together four goals for the Islanders, but it wasn’t enough to overcome five Avalanche goals and two empty netters. Ilya Sorokin made 34 of 39 saves in the loss.

"You have to turn the page," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "It's a demanding league. Nobody is feeling sorry for you, and we have to make sure that we're ready to go. We have a tremendous opportunity tomorrow. There's a lot of positive things in that game last night, and it just seems like if we make a mental mistake, we shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit and it ends up in the back of our net. That's going to change. We'll turn things around."

The Senators are also coming off a high-scoring loss, falling 6-4 to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at home. Jakob Chychrun, Vladimir Tarasenko (1G, A), Josh Norris and Mathieu Joseph (1G, 1A) scored for the Senators in the loss. Ottawa outshot Buffalo 38-24 including a third-period effort of three goals and 19 shots, but the Sabres pulled out the win.

The Islanders picked up three of a possible six points against the Senators last season through three meetings (1-1-1).

ISLANDERS NOTES:

- Scott Mayfield is still day-to-day with a lowerbody injury, but skated on his own on Wednesday, per Head Coach Lane Lambert. The defenseman missed his fourth consecutive game on Tuesday after blocking a shot late in the Isles season opener on Oct. 14.

- After losing 7-4 to the Avalanche on Tuesday, the Islanders are looking to regroup and work on the defensive aspects of their game in order to snap a three-game winless skid.

“There were a lot of good things last night, and some bad things,” Sebastian Aho said on Wednesday. “I feel like we did it to ourselves. The [Avalanche] are a good team for sure. We gave a couple goals away, so we need to adjust some details to tighten it up a little bit. I’m feeling good for tomorrow.”

- Noah Dobson recorded two points (2A) on Tuesday to reach a four-game point streak (1G, 4A). The 23-year-old defenseman racked up 49 points (13G, 36A) through 78 games last season.

- Mathew Barzal extended his point streak to four-games (1G, 3A) with an assist on the Palmieri goal.

- Simon Holmstrom buried his first goal of the season on a line with JG Pageau and Cal Clutterbuck, implementing feedback from Head Coach Lane Lambert on taking more shots.

“He’s been fairly receptive,” Lambert said. “With him not shooting the puck early in the season on that top line with Barzal and Horvat, I think he was trying to make some plays. When you're playing on that line or when you're playing on any line with that shot he possesses, he has to use it no matter what happens.”

- Clutterbuck scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday and also notched an assist on Holmstrom's goal. Clutterbuck recorded two multi-point games last season on Mar. 21 and Dec. 9. The veteran winger registered 12 points (6G, 6A) through 49 games.

- Pageau will face his former team on Thursday night after spending parts of eight seasons with the Senators before he arrived on Long Island at the end of the 2019-2020 season. The French center recorded three points (2G, 1A) over six appearances against the Senators since the trade. Pageau was out of the lineup with an upper-body injury the last time the Islanders faced the Senators on Feb. 14.

SENATORS NOTES:

- Senators Captain Brady Tkachuk was dished an instigator penalty after fighting Alex Tuch of the Sabres on Tuesday, which would result in an automatic one-game suspension since the fight happened within the final five minutes of the third period (16:05). The Senators appealed the decision, but if the penalty stands, the winger will not be in the lineup against the Islanders on Thursday.

- The Senators signed goalie Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year contract in the offseason. Korpisalo spent parts of his first eight seasons with Columbus before being dealt to LA at the end of last season. The Finnish netminder is 1-2-0 with his new team with a 3.63 GAA and an .872 SV%.

- Tim Stutzle was the top scorer last season for the Senators in goals (39), assists (51) and points (90), reaching career-highs in all three categories. The German winger has seven points (2G, 5A) through the first six games of his fourth season on the team.

- The Senators inked Jake Sanderson to an eight-year extension on Sept. 6, set to kick in next season. The 21-year-old defenseman had 32 points (4G, 28A) in his first year with the Senators and has seven points (3G, 4A) through six games this year. The defenseman is riding a five-game point streak.

- Travis Hamonic inked a two-year deal with the Senators on Jul. 4. The defenseman was drafted by the Islanders 53rd overall by the Islanders in the second round of the 2008 NHL Draft, spending eight seasons in New York. Hamonic is expected to play his 800th NHL game against the Islanders on Thursday. 

- Vladimir Tarasenko signed a one-year contract with Ottawa over the offseason. The winger leads the Senators with eight points (3G, 5A) through six games this season.

- Craig Anderson signed a one-day contract with the Senators on Tuesday to retire with Ottawa. The netminder leads the franchise in wins (202) and games played (435), accumulating 28 shutouts and a .914 SV% over the span of his career with the Senators. Anderson sports a resume of 709 NHL games played through 22 seasons.