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Isles hold on to sweep home-and-home set with Senators

Nov 16, 2008 - 4:33 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Joey MacDonald has found his groove and, in a change of pace, made a third-period lead stand up for the New York Islanders.

MacDonald stopped 38 shots and Jon Sim recorded a goal and an assist as the Islanders completed a home-and-home sweep of the struggling Ottawa Senators with a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Sean Bergenheim and defenseman Chris Campoli also scored for New York, which also posted a 3-1 victory in Ottawa on Thursday.

The Islanders, who improved to 7-17-7 all-time at home against the Senators, had squandered third-period leads four times in eight games this month. They nearly did it again, building a 3-0 advantage before being forced to hold on.

"That's the nature of the NHL," New York coach Scott Gordon said. "We're not the only team that gives up third-period leads. I don't think our guys were thinking about it. I know I wasn't."

Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza tallied for Ottawa, which has lost four in a row.

Making his seventh straight start in place of the injured Rick DiPietro, the 28-year-old MacDonald was given a three-goal cushion early in the third period in this one and made the most of it.

"We held the fort," MacDonald said. "We knew they weren't going to just sit back."

Senators general manager Bryan Murray met with his team before practice Friday and expressed his displeasure with its effort the previous night. It did not help, however, as Ottawa fell to 0-3-1 in its last four road games.

"We did a lot of good things tonight, but just not good enough," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We have to bear down when we get our chances. When you give up a couple of goals, it takes the air out of us."

Not even a series against the Islanders, a team Ottawa traditionally has dominated, could reverse the Senators' fortunes. New York defeated Ottawa for just the 13th time in 61 all-time meetings.

"Whether or not they're going through problems now, they're a good team," said New York's Doug Weight, who notched an assist.

Alex Auld stopped 28 shots for the Senators, who have been outscored, 12-4, during their current slide.

The Senators controlled play but could not solve MacDonald in a scoreless first period despite holding a 15-7 advantage in shots.

"We had a lot of chances and didn't finish," Ottawa coach Craig Hartsburg said. "The puck is not going in the net and other people aren't creating enough."

Bergenheim netted his third goal of the season 3:54 into the second for a 1-0 lead, batting in the rebound of a shot by Weight that went off Auld and fell into the crease.

The Islanders doubled the lead on a power-play goal by Sim, who tipped Frans Nielsen's second-chance shot past Auld at 9:54 for his fourth tally.

"We got some good, greasy goals working hard in front of the net," MacDonald said.

Campoli made it 3-0 at 3:59 of the third, snapping a shot from above the slot that beat Auld high to the glove side.

Heatley got Ottawa on the board with 6:31 remaining, burying a backhand pass from the doorstep by Alfredsson while standing alone near the right goalpost. Spezza cut the deficit to one with 93 seconds to go, whacking in a loose puck at the left side after it pinballed off a defenseman's skate and MacDonald's right pad and stick.

The Islanders played without defenseman Thomas Pock, who began a five-game suspension for delivering an elbow to the head of Ottawa's Ryan Shannon on Thursday.