Halak helps Islanders top Senators

OTTAWA -- Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves, and Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle scored to help the New York Islanders to a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.
It was the third win in a row for the Islanders (14-7-2) and their sixth in seven games. They allowed fewer than three goals for the fifth time in 23 games this season.

New York held on for the win after Matt Duchene, who was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 5, scored for Ottawa at 15:39 of the third period on the power play.
\[WATCH: All Islanders vs. Senators highlights\]
"A good 2-1 win we've been craving," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "[Halak] was pretty good. He made some big saves. He looked really confident and bailed us out a couple of times. We took a lot of penalties. He was our best penalty killer tonight."

Craig Anderson made 22 saves for Ottawa (8-8-6), which has lost six in a row (0-5-1). It's the Senators' longest skid since Guy Boucher was named coach on May 8, 2016.
"It's hard to look at this and say we lost this game," Boucher said. "We definitely deserved better. Right now, it's not about the effort. It's clearly a total effort from all the players from beginning to end. Guys are sticking together.
"We've just got to continue pushing. We're right there. We were there last game (a 5-2 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday), and we're right there now."

Duchene's goal, his first with the Senators, ended their 0-for-23 slump with the man-advantage.
"Nice to get the monkey off, but it feels good, not great, because we didn't get the result we wanted," Duchene said. "We played a heck of a hockey game, a lot better than any of those games on the (0-3-0 road trip). We felt like we deserved better. We're doing everything right but scoring."
Halak started for the third time in the past 10 games.
"I just tried to stop the puck and put it to the corner," Halak said. "When there was something, the guys were scrambling and getting the pucks for me."
Lee scored on the power play at 8:06 of the second period to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Lee stood in front of Anderson and tipped Josh Bailey's shot for his 12th goal of the season.

Eberle made it 2-0 at 14:10 of the third period when he took a pass from Nick Leddy in the slot and scored on a backhander. The goal came after Mathew Barzal circled the Senators zone before passing to Leddy.
"We held on really well," Lee said. "It was one of those games with power plays both ways and they were able to get one at the end. I thought we played a really great game defensively and [Halak] was stellar. He controlled his rebounds really well tonight and made our kills pretty easy.
"We haven't really seen a 1-0, 2-0 game tight until the end all year, really. It's always nice to win the tight ones, any time a team can put a push at the end that we can withstand their pressure and get the win."

Goal of the game

Duchene scored his first with the Senators at 15:39 of the third period.

Save of the game

Halak against Derick Brassard with 57 seconds left in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Eberle finished a passing play with Leddy and Barzal at 14:10 of the third period.

They said it

"Let's face it: whether you're a fourth-liner, a grinder, a physical player, a goal scorer, everybody likes getting points. It makes you feel good as a team. We've been putting up a lot of goals, but it's good to get those 2-1 wins. They build for you down the road. That was a desperate hockey team, so that was a big win for us." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight
"Good is not going to cut it for us. We need to find a way to win a game. And when we do, we've got to hope we can build off that and go on a stretch the other way, because right now, it's obviously not pointing in the way we want." -- Senators captain Erik Karlsson

Need to know

Islanders forward Casey Cizikas left the game after the second period because of a lower-body injury. … Senators forward Zack Smith returned after missing six games with a dislocated thumb. … Brassard led the Senators with nine shots on goal; forward Mike Hoffman had eight.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNP, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Senators: At the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NHL.TV)