Palmieri, Wahlstrom propel Islanders past Senators for 3rd straight win

OTTAWA -- Kyle Palmieri and Oliver Wahlstrom each had a goal and an assist for the New York Islanders in a 5-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Friday.

Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored six seconds apart in the second period, and Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves for the Islanders (8-6-5), who have won three straight. Alexander Romanov and Brock Nelson each had two assists.

“When we weren’t winning, I said we were playing good,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “We felt as though the wins would start coming if we continued to play well. The challenge was not to get discouraged, and I thought our guys did a great job of that and they played hard every game. And I thought tonight was no exception.”

Islanders defensemen Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho did not return after leaving the game with injuries early in the first period. Pelech left at 2:23, clutching his wrist after taking a hit from Ottawa forward Drake Batherson. Aho limped off the ice at 3:07.

“That was an incredible effort,” Lambert said. “We knew real early in the game what we were up against for the most part, so I thought what they did is keep it as simple as possible. I thought they did a good job of making sure they kept their shifts as short as possible, and I just thought it was an incredible effort by the four [defensemen]. I’ve never experienced that before where we’ve been down to four for pretty much the entire game.”

Batherson scored twice, Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist, and Mathieu Joseph had two assists for the Senators (8-8-0), who had won three straight. Anton Forsberg made 21 saves.

“You have to forecheck, you have to take the walls away,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said of playing against a team that is down two defensemen. “We did it for a stretch in the second period, but not enough. And when we made mistakes, it ended up in the net. They’ve got some older guys that in the third period just stayed back and we didn’t create enough by creating chaos, shooting pucks, getting them back. We just didn’t make it hard enough on them defensively.”

Defenseman Noah Dobson led New York, which blocked 31 shots, with 31:05 of ice time.

“It was a lot of minutes for everyone,” Dobson said. “I think as a group everyone was aware and the forwards did a good job helping us out getting back, and then we needed ‘Varly’ to make some big saves and he did that. So, just a great, great effort from everyone.”

Batherson gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 10:25 of the first period, one-timing a centering pass from Brady Tkachuk in the slot on the power play.

Palmieri tied it 1-1 at 13:55 when he jammed in a Romanov rebound at the edge of the crease.

Wahlstrom put the Islanders ahead 2-1 at 6:22 of the second period, tipping a Romanov point shot.

“We had to step up and eat some minutes,” said New York defenseman Ryan Pulock, who had 28:47 of ice time. “I think our forwards did a really good job for us of playing simple and trying not to turn any pucks over in the neutral zone, and trying to get everything deep. Kudos to everyone for stepping up and making it a little easier on us on the back end with being down a couple of bodies.”

Ottawa thought it had scored 33 seconds before Wahlstrom’s goal when Erik Brannstrom’s wrist shot went top right on Varlamov from the top of the slot at 5:49, but the Islanders challenged for offside and the goal was overturned after video review.

Barzal extended it to 3-1 at 9:51 on the power play, beating Forsberg blocker side with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. Lee made it 4-1 six seconds later at 9:57 with a wrist shot short side on a 2-on-2 rush.

“When they scored the 3-1 goal, it felt like we got behind, obviously,” Forsberg said. “And then I let in the fourth one there. I should’ve had that one. It’s uphill from there. I’ve got to find more consistency and get a few saves there. The team battled back hard. We had a [bad] bounce in the third. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Stutzle cut it to 4-2 at 10:56 after scoring in front of the net on a centering pass from Joseph before Batherson made it 4-3 at 11:43 when he took a cross-slot pass from Stutzle and beat Varlamov over the blocker.

“I was 100 percent confident we were going to win that game,” Stutzle said. “There was never a doubt in my mind. Even when they scored [to make it] 5-3, I thought we were going to win, for sure. We had some good looks. Give credit to their goalie, he made some huge saves, especially during the 6-on-5.”

Dobson’s slap shot from the point redirected off Senators forward Vladimir Tarasenko and in off Simon Holmstrom at 5:18 of the third period for the 5-3 final.

“It happens with guys going down, but two [defensemen] right away was pretty significant,” Lee said. “So, a huge, gutsy effort from those four back there, and we tried to do our best and talked as much as we could all night.”

NOTES: Lambert did not have updates on Pelech or Aho. … Barzal and Lee’s goals six seconds apart tied the second-fastest two goals in franchise history; New York’s fastest pair of goals came just three seconds apart on Nov. 30, 2016, against the Pittsburgh Penguins -- with the second scored into an empty net. … The Islanders and Senators combined for four goals in 1:52 -- the fastest four combined goals by two teams since Nov. 17, 2022, when the Montreal Canadiens (two) and Columbus Blue Jackets (two) did so in 1:50.