NEW YORK -- Jean-Francois Berube's teammates and coaches did not get a good view of the pair of wild first-period saves the New York Islanders goalie made Wednesday night.

They won't have any trouble finding the replays.

Berube's highlight-reel-worthy saves early in the first period helped spark the struggling Islanders, who scored three second-period goals on their way to a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at Barclays Center.

The wild-card-leading Islanders (39-24-9) snapped a four-game losing streak and moved four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings, who are tied for the final wild card.

"We were hungry," Berube said after making 22 saves to earn first-star honors, along with his second NHL win. "I think we played with a little bit of desperation out there. We're in a little bit of a slump, but we trust the group we have in here."

The Islanders' trust in Berube -- a third-string goalie thrust into semi-regular duty with starting goalie Jaroslav Halak out indefinitely with a lower body injury -- was enhanced by his spectacular effort a little less than six minutes into the first period.

New York had already gone 0-for-2 on the power play when Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau bolted away from the Islanders' Nick Leddy and Frans Nielsen and took a pass from teammate Mark Stone.

Pageau's shot was deflected by Berube, whose momentum carried him to the right of the cage. Nielsen tried to clear the puck and missed before Stone swooped in and backhanded a shot toward the empty net as Johnny Boychuk lunged at him with his stick.

But Berube saw Stone out of the corner of his eye, sprawled to his left and used his glove to push the puck out of the goalmouth.

"To be honest, I think it was going wide there," said Berube, though replays indicated the puck was about to sail into the back of the net. "I was just tracking the puck as good as I could. I saw it coming my way and kind of made a little bit of a desperation save there."

He had a better view than the players in front of him.

"I didn't really see it," Boychuk said of the save. "I was on the other side."

"I didn't see it, I lost the puck," Nielsen said before laughing. "It looked like a good save."

It was good enough for the NHL to post the video of it on its Twitter feed less than an hour later.

"I didn't really get a great view of it," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said, "The visual I got was a big save. Could have been the turning point of the game."

The game remained scoreless until John Tavares put back a shot by Josh Bailey 5:24 into the second period to give the Islanders their first lead in five games. Matt Martin and Brock Nelson scored 21 seconds apart later in the second for New York, which scored just three goals in the preceding 10 periods.

"Any time you get a big save like that, it lifts your guys up, lets you know the guy between the pipes came to play tonight and we've got to battle tonight," Capuano said.

Stone ended the shutout 6:21 into the third but the Senators never seriously threatened again.

"You got the feeling as the second period went on that whoever got the first one was going to have a real advantage," Senators head coach Dave Cameron said. "Give them credit, they got it."

Goalie Andrew Hammond made 20 saves for the Senators (34-33-8), who lost for the second time in as many nights and fell to 3-5-1 in their last nine games. Ottawa is seven points behind the Flyers and Red Wings, but has fewer games remaining (seven) than any Eastern Conference contender.

"In a back-to-back game, getting an early goal would have been huge," Cameron said.

NOTES: A moment of silence was held prior to the game for the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Brussels. ... The Islanders scratched C Mikhail Grabovski (undisclosed), G Jaroslav Halak (lower body) and D Marek Zidlicky (upper body) as well as RW Steve Bernier, LW Eric Boulton and D Brian Strait. ... The Islanders signed G Eamon McAdam to a three-year entry-level contract on Wednesday. McAdam was selected by the Islanders in the third round of the 2012 draft and just completed a three-year career at Penn State. ... The Senators scratched D Mark Borowiecki (knee), RW Chris Neil (flu), D Dion Phaneuf (lower body), C Kyle Turris (ankle) and D Patrick Wiercioch (upper body). ... To replace Phaneuf, who did not travel to New York after being injured Tuesday against the Washington Capitals, the Senators recalled D Fredrik Claesson from Binghamton of the AHL.