The Upshot: NY Islanders offensive struggles continue in 2-1 loss to Ottawa

HOW IT HAPPENED

Shane Pinto and Claude Giroux scored, and Anton Forsberg made 21 saves in relief of Cam Talbot as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Islanders 2-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday night. Forsberg entered the game at 8:05 of the second period for Ottawa (21-23-3) when Talbot left the game with a lower-body injury after making 14 saves.

Brock Nelson scored in the second period, and Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves for the Islanders (23-22-5), who are 0-4-2 in their past six games and 1-7-3 in their past 11.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Lou Lamoriello said, "your goal scorers have to score" before the game, at least one did. Brock Nelson extended his scoring streak to four games (3G, 1A) with a second-period goal. He now leads the team in goals (18) and points (43) after not scoring a goal in 14 consecutive games. "That's a positive for sure," head coach Lane Lambert said of Nelson. "He's starting to score again, and we're going to need him."

WHAT WENT WRONG

More of the same, the Islanders failed to convert on the power play (0 for 3) for the eighth straight game and didn’t score a third-period goal for a franchise record 11th straight game. The team has now scored two or fewer goals in 12 of their last 14 games and are now 24th in the league in GPG.

STATS OF THE GAME

Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Claude Giroux scored his 25th career goal against the Islanders; Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin are the only other active players with at least 25 goals vs. the Isles. Cam Talbot played only 28:05 – the fewest of any goalie to start and win an NHL game since Tristan Jarry played only 20 minutes on March 29, 2021 – also against the Islanders.

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

You can either laugh or cry.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders start a back-to-back on Friday night with a game against the Detroit Red Wings at UBS Arena. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM ET.