The Upshot: NY Islanders salvage a point; lose to Tkachuk and the Sens 4-3 in OT

HOW IT HAPPENED

Brady Tkachuk scored the game-winner in O.T. for a hat trick that gave the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday afternoon. Ridly Greig scored in the second period for the Sens and Joonas Korpisalo had 30 saves in the win. Bo Horvat tied the game for the Isles on the power play with 38 seconds left to play in regulation to tie the game but was penalized for a holding in overtime, leading to Tkachuk's winner with 24 seconds remaining. Matt Martin and Kyle Palmieri each had goals for the Isles, who have lost three in a row (0-2-1) since their six-game winning streak. Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves in the loss.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

It wasn't the two points they needed, but every point is crucial and Bo Horvat's game-tying power-play goal with the goalie pulled secured that one point for the Isles.

"We fought back to get one [point], but we needed two." Horvat said. There were parts of the game where I thought we played really well and then other parts where we were out of sync, losing our battles and not playing Isles hockey."

Matt Martin scored his first wraparound goal of his career to open the scoring. It ended the Isles scoring drought at126:15 after being shutout in consecutive games.

WHAT WENT WRONG

The Islanders just weren't good enough, plain and simple, given the stakes and the need for them to rebound after consecutive losses to the Kings and Sabres. Despite not playing a great second period, Palmieri's goal gave them a lead heading into the third period, and yet, they needed to scramble at the end to tie the game and force overtime.

The offense isn't clicking right now and looked out of sync for the third straight game. Defensively, the fell back into the habit of bad puck management, leading to high-danger chances, including a 2-on-0 that tied the game in the third. "We are better than this, and we have to be better than this," Patrick Roy said after the game. "We did a lot of good things, but it's not enough at this time of the year. This was a big game for us.

STATS OF THE GAME

The Islanders lost for the first time under Roy when scoring the first goal (8-0-1). Per Eric Hornick, the , the Isles have gone nine consecutive games without allowing a goal in the opening frame, which ties a franchise record set in the 1978-79 season. 

Per NHL PR, Brady Tkachuk is the third player in franchise history to cap a hat trick with an overtime goal, following Anthony Duclair (Dec. 14, 2019 vs. CBJ) and Bob Kudelski (Nov. 5, 1993 at WIN). In addition, Isles center Jean-Gabriel Pageau tallied an overtime goal in the playoffs after scoring a hat trick in regulation (Game 2 of 2017 R1 vs. NYR).

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

Patrick Roy had the same reaction as all of us watching Tkachuk's game-winner in O.T.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Isles are right back at it on Sunday afternoon as they battle the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick's Day. Face-off is set for 1:00 PM EST.