Smith scores twice as Senators defeat Islanders
NEW YORK -- Mark Stone scored the tie-breaking goal late in the second period Sunday night as the Ottawa Senators earned their second win in 24 hours by beating the New York Islanders 6-2 at Barclays Center.
Zack Smith scored two goals for the Senators, including an empty netter with 3:27 left in the game, while Bobby Ryan, Derick Brassard and Tom Pyatt (empty netter) also scored for the Senators (18-11-3), who beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Saturday night.
Ottawa goalie Mike Condon made 22 saves in relief of Andrew Hammond, who stopped all seven shots he faced before leaving with a lower body injury in the first period. It was the first start for Hammond since Oct. 17.
Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the second period for the free-falling Islanders (11-14-6), who have lost five straight (0-4-1) to fall into the Eastern Conference basement.
Third-string goalie Jean-Francois Berube, making consecutive starts for the first time in his NHL career, recorded 27 saves.
The Senators took the lead at 10:30 of the first, when Kyle Turris' shot from the middle of the right faceoff circle ticked off the arm of Ryan, who had his back to Turris, and fluttered past Berube.
Another redirection doubled the Senators' lead just moments after Hammond departed. Stone's shot from the blue line glanced off the stick of Smith, who was in front of Islanders defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Calvin de Haan, and over Berube's shoulder.
The Islanders cut the gap in half just 27 seconds into the middle period. The Senators won a faceoff deep in their zone and Dion Phaneuf brought the puck around the Ottawa net, but Lee intercepted Phaneuf's pass and fired a shot past Condon.
Beauvillier's breakaway goal tied the score with 5:53 remaining. Travis Hamonic, standing in front of Berube, intercepted a shot by Turris and cleared the puck toward Beauvillier, who was streaking down the ice. After slowing down the puck with his skate, Beauvillier continued toward Condon and fired a shot under his stick.
The Senators took the lead again with a power-play goal 56 seconds later, when Stone tucked a rebound between Hamonic and Berube.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Casey Cizikas (upper body) and G Thomas Greiss. Head coach Jack Capuano said Cizikas, who was injured Thursday, has yet to resume skating. ... Islanders LW Andrew Ladd played in his 800th NHL game. ... The Senators scratched G Craig Anderson, who remains with his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment, as well as D Ben Harpur. In addition, LW Mike Hoffman completed his two-game suspension for crosschecking San Jose Sharks C Logan Couture on Wednesday. ... Senators C Jean-Gabriel Pageau played in his 200th game with the team on Saturday. He is the 51st skater in Senators history to play at least 200 games.