Anthony Duclair scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period Thursday night for the host Ottawa Senators, who dealt another blow to the playoff hopes of the struggling Islanders by beating New York 4-3.

Connor Brown, Mikkel Boedker and Brady Tkachuk also scored for the Senators, who have won three of four. Goalie Craig Anderson made 37 saves.

Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders, who have lost five straight (0-3-2) since acquiring center Jean-Gabriel Pageau from the Senators hours before the Feb. 24 trade deadline.

Pageau, who spent the first seven-plus years of his career with Ottawa, received a standing ovation during a scoreboard tribute in the first period.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded 25 saves for the Islanders, whose lead dropped to two points over the New York Rangers for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Another point back are the Hurricanes, and the Islanders host Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

An exchange between Lee and Barzal led to the Islanders opening the scoring early in the first period. Lee's pass behind the Senators' net to Barzal bounced off the boards and to Barzal as Lee stationed himself at the right of the net, where he took a dish from Barzal and fired the puck into the net at 3:58.

The Senators tied the score a second shy of 10 minutes later when Nikita Zaitsev's shot from just inside the blue line was batted out of the air by Varlamov. It bounced off the skate and stick of New York defenseman Scott Mayfield before Brown swooped in and tucked back the rebound.

The Islanders took the lead again 4:18 into the second, when Barzal took a drop pass from Jordan Eberle and fired a shot that sailed under the skate of Chris Tierney and over Anderson's glove.

The Senators again evened the score, this time with a short-handed goal, exactly midway through the period. Boedker forced a turnover by Pulock before backhanding a shot past Varlamov.

Another Islanders turnover led to the Senators' go-ahead goal at 14:26. Colin White stole the puck from Josh Bailey at the edge of the New York zone and dished to Jayce Hawryluk, who hit Duclair in stride at center ice. Duclair then shuffled the puck as he eluded ex-teammate Pageau before firing a shot under Varlamov's glove.

The Senators took a short-lived two-goal with 3:05 left in the third, when Tkachuk picked up a loose puck in the Ottawa zone, raced up the ice and scored the unassisted goal.

With Varlamov pulled, Pulock scored with two minutes left, but the Islanders couldn't get the equalizer.

--Field Level Media