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Nielsen leads Islanders to shootout win over Ottawa

Nov 2, 2013 - 4:12 AM Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Frans Nielsen scored the lone shootout goal in the second round, as the New York Islanders fought back from a pair of two- goal deficits to take a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday at Canadian Tire Centre.

Nielsen notched the game-tying goal 3:14 into the third period before making a slick backhand-forehand move and lifting the disc over the extended right pad of Robin Lehner in the second round of the shootout.

Evgeni Nabokov, who turned away the first two Ottawa shooters, then made a nice pad save on Bobby Ryan to end the shootout and snap New York's two-game losing streak.

"You want to get rewarded when you play well and the guys' work ethic is where it needs to be," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "We were resilient and we battled back."

Pierre-Marc Bouchard registered a goal and an assist, Matt Martin and John Tavares each tallied once, and Nabokov finished with 27 saves for the Islanders, who peppered Lehner with 57 shots.

"They were very fast, they played with speed, they moved the puck and they shot a lot of pucks," Lehner said of the Isles.

Ryan recorded a goal and an assist for the Sens, who received goals from Clarke MacArthur, Erik Condra and Mika Zibanejad in dropping their fourth straight contest.

MacArthur's wraparound at the 14:47 mark of the second stanza staked the Senators to a 4-2 lead, but Bouchard buried a rebound from the low left side with 1:36 left in the period to make it a one-goal game.

After New York failed to capitalize on a two-man advantage that stretched into the third period, Nielsen netted the equalizer at 3:14 of the final frame when he fired a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice feed from Thomas Hickey to tie the game.

The Islanders registered the best scoring chance of the extra session when newly acquired forward Thomas Vanek skated in on a breakaway with just under 90 seconds left, but Lehner made a nice save in close.

The Senators built their first two-goal cushion with a pair of goals 1:02 apart late in the first stanza.

Condra took advantage of a New York turnover to notch the game's first goal, as he came up with Andrew MacDonald's failed clearing attempt just above the right circle before sneaking a shot through the blocker side of Nabokov for a 1-0 lead at 18:38.

Zibanejad followed just over a minute later with a heavy slapper from above the right circle that sent the Sens into the second with a 2-0 lead.

Tavares and Martin scored 28 seconds apart just before the midpoint of the second to even the score, but Ottawa answered with a two-goal flurry of its own shortly after to regain control.

Ryan's rebound goal from the low right side at 12:34 put the Sens back on top.

Game Notes

Ottawa center Derek Grant was credited with an assist on Condra's goal for his first NHL point ... Vanek was acquired for winger Matt Moulson and two draft picks from Buffalo on Sunday ... New York finished 0-for-4 on the power play ... Ottawa dropped to 1-3-1 at home this season.