Eliminated Isles beat Senators for 6th straight win
NEW YORK -- For the New York Islanders, a 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in the regular-season finale Sunday was as bittersweet as the loss was inconsequential for the Senators.
The Islanders (41-29-12) won their season-high sixth straight game to close out the 2016-17 campaign in strong fashion.
However, the latest win came less than 24 hours after the Islanders were mathematically eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff race when the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched that final postseason berth in the East with a win Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Senators (44-28-10) entered their final regular-season contest locked into second place in the Atlantic Division, with home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With nothing at stake, Ottawa played without 11 of its regulars on Sunday, receiving goals from Bobby Ryan in the second period and Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the third. Senators goalie Mike Condon made 17 saves.
New York's Anders Lee and Brock Nelson finished solid seasons on high notes. Lee scored his sixth goal in the final six games, and career-best 34th of the season. Nelson reached 45 points, establishing a career high with his 20th goal and two assists Sunday.
Andrew Ladd also scored for the Islanders, and Jason Chimera netted his 20th goal with an empty-netter late in the third period.
Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss, who watched Jaroslav Halak backstop the club's late surge with five straight starts and wins through Saturday, stopped 32 shots to earn his 26th victory of the season.
Ladd opened the scoring with his 23rd of the season 3:23 into the game. The Islanders carried that 1-0 lead into the first intermission after killing off three straight Ottawa power plays in the period.
Left alone in front, Lee made it 2-0 at 8:17 of the second period with Josh Bailey collecting his 200th career assist on the play and Nelson picking up his first point of the game with the secondary assist.
Nelson then beat Condon through the five-hole on a slick backhand finish at 13:52 to put the Islanders up 3-0.
The Senators broke through with 1:06 to play in the second period when Ryan scored off a three-on-one rush after Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg broke his stick at the other end of the ice.
NOTES: The Senators recalled C Nick Paul, D Andreas Englund, and G Matt O'Connor from Binghamton of the American Hockey League for Sunday's game. ... Senators RW Bobby Ryan returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games due to injury. ... Ottawa scratched 11 players, including D Erik Karlsson, D Mark Methot, and C Zack Smith, who are all injured. ... The Islanders scratched C John Tavares (lower body), C Ryan Strome (upper body), C Casey Cizikas (upper body), C Shane Prince (lower body), D Travis Hamonic (upper body), LW Nikolay Kulemin, and G J.F. Berube.