Islanders Eliminated From Playoff Contention Despite Win Over Ottawa

NEW YORK (AP) — Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored in the second period and the New York Islanders closed the season with their sixth straight win, beating the playoff-bound Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Sunday.

Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera also scored and Nelson had an assist for New York, which was eliminated from playoff contention Saturday night.

Thomas Greiss, playing for the first time in six games, stopped 32 shots. Greiss last played on March 30, when he was pulled after giving up three goals on eight shots in first 8:06 of a 6-3 loss at Philadelphia. Jaroslav Halak started the last five games.

Bobby Ryan and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Senators and Mike Condon had 17 saves. Ottawa, which had already clinched second place in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, left 10 players back home to rest.

With Ottawa trailing 3-0, Ryan got the Senators on the scoreboard with 1:06 left in the second, skating in and firing a shot into the top right corner for his 13th.

Pageau pulled Ottawa within one 2:34 into the third, beating Greiss with a wrist shot for his 12th.

The Senators pressed for the tying goal in the closing minutes but couldn't get anything else past Greiss. Chimera scored an empty-netter for his 20th with 1:08 left.

The Islanders gathered at center ice after the game and saluted the fans.

Lee extended the Islanders' lead to 2-0 at 8:17 of the second. Josh Bailey deflected the puck to the right side of the net, and Lee waited and put it over the left pad of Condon, who was down on the ice, for his 34th — tied for ninth in the NHL. Bailey got his 200th assist on the play.

Nelson added to New York's lead with 6:08 left in the middle period as he took a pass from Adam Pelech, skated past a defender, deked Condon and backhanded the puck through the goalie's five-hole. It was Nelson's 20th goal, reaching that mark for the third straight season.

The Senators outshot the Islanders 14-7 in the first period, but trailed 1-0. Ottawa also had three power plays in the period, but totaled just four shots on goal during the man-advantages.

Ladd got the Islanders on the scoreboard 3:23 in with his 23rd of the season, and fourth in last 11 games. Johnny Boychuk fired a shot from the right point that was deflected in front of the goal to Ladd, who fired it into the left side of the net with Condon out of position.

Ladd nearly had another about three minutes later, but Condon made a nice sprawling pad stop to deny the attempt.

NOTES: The Senators rested G Craig Anderson, D Erik Karlsson, D Dion Phaneuf, C Kyle Turris, C Derick Brassard, LW Viktor Stalberg, RW Mark Stone, C Mike Hoffman, D Cody Ceci. ... LW Nick Paul made his season debut for Ottawa. ... Islanders RW Bailey, LW Chimera and D Calvin de Haan played in every game this season. ... New York was missing injured centers John Tavares, Ryan Strome, Casey Cizikas and Shane Prince, and rested LW Nikolay Kulemin — who played Saturday after missing seven games with a shoulder injury. D Thomas Hickey played forward for the fourth straight game, on a line with Connor Jones and Cal Clutterbuck. ... Greiss appeared in a career-high 51 games and finished 26-18-8 with a 2.69 goals-against average and three shutouts. ... Bailey finished the season with career highs of 43 assists and 56 points.

UP NEXT

Senators: Play either Boston or Toronto in the first round of the playoffs.

Islanders: Offseason.