OTTAWA — Valtteri Filppula scored twice to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators Thursday night.
Anthony Beauvillier and Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders (39-21-7), who are now tied in points with the Washington Capitals for first in the Metropolitan Division. Thomas Greiss stopped 35 shots.
Brady Tkachuk and Oscar Lindberg scored for the Senators (23-39-6), while Anders Nilsson made 27 saves.
Thursday marked the back half of a home-and-home between the two teams with the Islanders winning the first game 5-4 in a shootout.
Tied 2-2 in the third, the Islanders took the lead at the 12-minute mark after Ottawa’s Zack Smith looked to give the puck to Nilsson, who was unable to freeze it, and Beauvillier shoved it in for his 16th of the season.
Cizikas scored into an empty net in the final minute of regulation to seal the victory.
Trailing 2-1 to start the second, the Senators tied the game midway through the period as Lindberg buried a rebound past Greiss.
The Senators dominated play late in the period, but were unable to get the go-ahead goal despite outshooting the Islanders 17-10 in the second.
The Islanders took a 2-1 first-period lead on goals by Filppula.
Leo Komarov made a great pass and Filppula beat Nilsson backand to open the scoring at the five-minute mark.
The Senators managed to tie the game soon after as Tkachuk, with his team-leading 15th, tipped Ben Harpur’s shot.
New York regained the lead late in the period as Tom Kuhnhackl flung a puck from behind the net and Filppula was able to bat it past Nilsson for his second of the night.
The Islanders swept the season series 3-0-0.
Notes: Ottawa’s Christian Jaros is day-to-day with a hamstring injury. New York’s Robin Lehner is listed day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Joshua Ho-Sang, Dennis Seidenberg, Luca Sbisa and Thomas Hickey were healthy scratches.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
