It was a hard fought battle by the Senators on Thursday night as the team fell short to the New York Islanders by a score of 4-2. Defenceman Nick Jensen and forward Drake Batherson scored a goal each for the Senators, while forward Tim Stützle had a two-point night with two assists.
Defenceman Artem Zub returned to the lineup for the Senators after missing the past nine games with an injury. Zub last dressed for the Senators on October 14 in an 8-7 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings.
It was a game of defence to kick off the first period, as both goaltenders stood tall to keep their teams tied at 0-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The Islanders opened the scoring with 4:11 left in the second as forward Anders Lee scored his fourth goal of the season to put the Islanders up 1-0 late in the second period.
Less than three minutes later, the Islanders doubled their lead to 2-0 with 1:38 remaining in the period. Former Senator Jean-Gabriel Pageau got the goal for New York, his fourth of the season.
2:40 into the third period, Oliver Wahlstrom scored his first goal of the season to add to the Islanders’ lead, putting them up 3-0 early into the frame.
The Senators struck back at 7:43 into the third as defenceman Nick Jensen scored his first of the season and first as a Senator to get the team back within two. Assists on the goal went to defenceman Thomas Chabot and forward Tim Stützle.
With 5:33 left in the third period, under a minute into a powerplay, the Senators scored again to get back within one at 3-2. Forward Drake Batherson got his sixth of the season. Tim Stützle earned his second assist of the game alongside defenceman Jake Sanderson, who got his first.
“We had them on their heels there at the end of the game,” spoke Batherson postgame. “That could’ve been the last thirty minutes of the game if we had scored one there in the second."
With the net empty, the Senators made a final push to tie the game in the dying seconds of the third, but it was too little too late. Forward Bo Horvat scored his fifth of the season into the empty net to finalize a 4-2 Islanders win.
“We pushed, had desperation in our game when we were down. We didn’t start the game with enough desperation,” said head coach Travis Green following the game. “But when we got to our game, we did a lot of good things. But not enough to get the win."
“A good fight at the end there but weren’t good in the first and made a couple mistakes in the second,” spoke captain Brady Tkachuk. “We need a really big response game on Saturday.”
The Senators will return to the ice on Saturday as the team travels to Boston to take on the Boston Bruins at 7:00 p.m. in the first matchup of the season between the two teams.
Postgame availabilities:
