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Corvo, Emery lead Senators past Islanders

Mar 16, 2007 - 4:32 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- With a chance to improve their playoff positioning, the Ottawa Senators leaned on defenseman Joe Corvo and goaltender Ray Emery.

Corvo had a goal and an assist and Emery stopped 28 shots as the Senators posted a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders.

Chris Kelly, Chris Neil and Jason Spezza each had goals and Dean McAmmond also tallied and set up a score for Ottawa (41-23-7), which moved one point ahead of idle Pittsburgh (39-21-10) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

"It's nice to have all these guys get some confidence scoring," Spezza said. "Going into the playoffs you want everyone feeling pretty good about their game."

The Islanders (34-26-10) remain in a tie for seventh place with the Carolina Hurricanes (35-29-8), who lost to the New Jersey Devils, 3-2.

After Kelly scored at the 1:59 mark of the second period for a 1-0 lead, Corvo doubled the advantage when he received a pass from Mike Comrie, wound up and ripped a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past goaltender Mike Dunham with 14:07 left in the session.

"It felt good," Corvo said. "Everything was just falling into place out there. If I could get into the majority of the games like that, there would be no problems."

Neil, McAmmond and Spezza all scored in a span of 1 minute 16 seconds at the start of the final period to give the Senators a commanding 5-0 lead.

"I think in previous games we kinda sat back and tried to protect the lead," Kelly said. "Tonight we decided to go right at them and stick to our game and not get away from it too much."

Emery was strong all night, knocking away eight shots in each of the first and second periods before being scored upon twice in the last five minutes of the contest.

"Well, I never really like to get scored on," Emery said. "I'm glad we won but as a goalie you never want to get scored on."

Emery improved to 4-0-0 lifetime vs. the Islanders.

Miroslav Satan had a goal and an assist and defenseman Drew Fata scored his first career goal for New York, which has won only three games in its last 25 trips to Ottawa.

"We've got to bond together on the road and find a way through this together," Islanders left wing Ryan Smyth said. "We're going down to Florida and it's crucial that we find a way to play better quick because we need all the points we can get."

Dunham allowed five of 28 shots to get by him before he was removed after Ottawa's fifth tally. Third-string netminder Wade Dubielewicz made eight saves for the Islanders, who have lost seven straight to the Senators.

"Mike Dunham is a great goaltender," Islanders left wing Jason Blake said. "It doesn't matter who's in net - Rick (DiPietro), Mike, (New Jersey Devils All-Star) Martin Brodeur - if you leave them hanging out to dry and don't give them any help back there, there's not much you can do. It's not his fault, and I feel bad for him."

Starting goaltender DiPietro traveled with the team but did not suit up, still feeling the effects of a stiff neck when he collided with Montreal's Steve Begin on Tuesday.