Varlamov makes 36 saves, Islanders hold off Senators

OTTAWA -- Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves for the New York Islanders in a 4-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday.

"I thought he was terrific," New York coach Lane Lambert said. "I thought he played an outstanding game. We've been getting solid goaltending out of both goalies. [Varlamov] was outstanding tonight."
Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist, and Mathew Barzal had two assists for the Islanders (11-6-0), who are 4-1-0 in their past five games.
New York was 2-for-3 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.
"They have a good power play, but we were well prepared, and I thought the guys battled hard," Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "A lot of sacrifice, a lot of blocked shots, a lot of battles that we won, and [Varlamov] in net was outstanding. He made some really amazing saves for us."

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to nine games, and Tim Stutzle had two assists for the Senators (5-9-1), who have lost eight of nine (1-7-1). Cam Talbot made 31 saves.
"I thought we played well again," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "We stuck to our game, we were getting behind them. That's a good, veteran, older team who knows how to play the right way for 60 minutes. I thought we did a good job of matching that."
Oliver Wahlstrom gave New York a 1-0 lead at 11:53 of the first period, scoring blocker side with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle on a power play.
The Islanders are 6-0-0 when scoring first this season.
"It's nice to score the first goal, that's for sure. We've had some comebacks, too," Lambert said. "But tonight, I thought we did a really good job with the lead, and it was, really, a character win. It was as much a character win, or more, as the comebacks. We fought through a lot of adversity tonight."

The Senators spent 9:26 of the second period on the power play, including a brief 5-on-3 immediately followed by a 4:00 man-advantage.
"We ran into penalty trouble, obviously," Lambert said. "… So, the bench becomes shorter, you have to use certain players more, but we did a great job fighting our way through that."
Drake Batherson tied it 1-1 at 8:48 with a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Stutzle during the 5-on-3.
However, shortly after killing the ensuing double minor, Dobson put New York back in front 2-1 at 13:15 when his shot from the right point deflected in off the shin of Senators forward Mark Kastelic.
"At the end of the day, it's special teams," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "They score two and we score one. We lose."
Pageau made it 3-1 on the power play at 8:21 of the third period, swatting in a rebound with his backhand after Dobson's initial one-timer was blocked.
"There's a lot of experience in the locker room, and we stayed pretty composed and we kept playing," Pageau said. "We didn't stop. We played in our structure."

Giroux finished a backdoor pass from Tkachuk at the right post to cut it to 3-2 at 13:08. He has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) during his point streak.
Brock Nelson shot into an empty net at 18:50 for the 4-2 final.
"I still think we played pretty good in the third," Giroux said. "We got our chances, and we were able to get to 3-2. I don't think we played badly. I think obviously we know we have to play better, but there's a lot of good things today."
NOTES:Barzal has yet to score a goal this season but has 18 assists in 17 games, which is third in the NHL behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (19) and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (20). … Tkachuk has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 15 games this season. The last Senators player to reach the mark in fewer games was Daniel Alfredsson (14 games in 2007-08).