Matt Martin and Kyle Palmieri also scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves for the Islanders (29-22-15), who have lost three straight (0-2-1) and visit the New York Rangers on Sunday.
“We just gave that game away, that’s all we did,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, come on. We are better than this. We have to be better than this. We did a lot of good things, but it's not enough at this time of the year if we want to win those big games, and that was a big game for us.”
New York fell one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Detroit won 4-1 against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
“You got to give [the Senators] credit,” Horvat said. They played a good game tonight. They do have some firepower up front. I can't take all the credit away from them; they did a lot of good things. But we definitely have to be better than we were tonight.”
Martin made it 1-0 at 4:27 of the first period on a wraparound to end New York’s scoring drought at 126:15.
Tkachuk tied it 1-1 at 11:46 of the second period with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle after a turnover at the Senators blue line by Islanders forward Pierre Engvall.
Palmieri put New York back in front in 2-1 at 16:22. Jean-Gabriel Pageau won a race to a loose puck in the left circle, spun and sent a cross-ice feed to Palmieri, whose wrist shot squeaked past Korpisalo at the near post.
“I think the first half of the game, for whatever reason, we just weren’t generating a lot,” Palmieri said. “[We were] passing shots up and maybe looking for that extra pass. As a team, all four lines really in order for us to be successful and play at our best, we’re playing fast and moving the puck up ice and getting it to those areas and putting shots on the net.”
Ridly Greig tied it 2-2 at 6:35 of the third on a 2-on-0 with Stutzle for his 10th goal of the season, and Tkachuk put Ottawa in front 3-2 on a power play at 12:14, one-timing a feed from Stutzle at the edge of the left circle.
“I thought we had good composure throughout the game,” Pinto said. “A couple of things didn't go our way, especially at the end there with the penalty, but we stuck with it and got the job done. So, that’s all that matters.
“... When you win a few games, you start feeling good and the confidence starts to get going a little bit. We’ve got a big game tomorrow, and hopefully we can keep the confidence going.”
NOTES: It was Tkachuk’s second hat trick this season and third of his career. He has scored at least 30 goals in each of the past three seasons, including an NHL career-high 35 in 2022-23. … Senators forward Drake Batherson had two assists. … It was Martin’s first goal since Jan. 6, at the Vegas Golden Knights. … The Islanders have played 23 games this season that have gone past regulation; only the Boston Bruins have played more (24).
