OTTAWA, Ontario _ How will the Islanders fare against the tougher opponents in the season's final four weeks?
It's a lingering question they will have to answer the correct way as they vie for a playoff berth. Because the Islanders again played an inconsistent game against the NHL-worst Senators on Thursday night, concluding a home-and-home series with a 4-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre.
Valtteri Filppula had two goals as he still seeks his first NHL hat trick after 941 games.
Only three games among the Islanders' final 15, starting Saturday night as they open a three-game homestand against the Flyers, are against opponents out of the playoff chase.
The Islanders (39-21-7) pulled even with the Capitals with 85 points in the Metropolitan Division race but are just six points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Anthony Beauvillier scored the winner at 12:29 of the third period, whacking in the puck at the right post after the Senators' Zack Smith deflected defenseman Adam Pelech's feed from the right boards. Casey Cizikas added an empty-netter with 48.8 seconds to go.
So all's well that ended well for the Islanders. But that won't always be the case as the games continue to intensify unless they tighten their defensive play along the walls and limit the chances in front of their crease.
"The last 10 games, we haven't been as sharp in some games," coach Barry Trotz said. "That's going to happen during the year. It's how you respond and get your game back on track. We're just trying to get certain areas of our game on track."
The Islanders beat the Senators, 5-4, in a shootout on Tuesday night at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum to conclude a 2-3-0 homestand after being unable to hold a two-goal lead in the third period.
Thomas Greiss made 35 saves with Robin Lehner unavailable after suffering a suspected head injury late in the third period on Tuesday night.
Anders Nilsson stopped 27 shots for the Senators (23-39-6), who lost all three games to the Islanders, are in a 2-10-1 slide and, since the offseason, have traded away Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson and top-six forwards Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel and replaced Guy Boucher with interim coach Marc Crawford.
Trotz is pushing his team, which has not made the playoffs since 2016, to embrace the challenge of being in the postseason chase.
"There's always a mental pressure to win hockey games when you're in that race," he said. "You've just got to accept it and enjoy it and not let it wear on you and think about it the whole time and take your energy. Sort of embrace the battle, if you will. It's an exciting time."
Filppula, who also had a two-goal game in a 7-2 win at Los Angeles on Oct. 18, made it 1-0 with a backhander from between the circles at 5:44 of the first period off Leo Komarov's backhanded feed. Brady Tkachuk, who earlier in the period checked Brock Nelson into the corner glass so hard the pane popped free, deflected defenseman Ben Harpur's shot from the right boards to make it 1-1 at 7:00.
But Filppula got to the crease and deposited Tom Kuhnhackl's feed from behind the net to make it 2-1 at 15:24.
Filppula had a chance for the hat trick on a short-handed two-on-one rush with Komarov at 6:05 of the second period, but Nilsson stretched out his left pad as Filppula got to the post.
Oscar Lindberg collected a loose puck below the right circle as the Islanders had trouble clearing the puck and tied the score at 2-2 at 9:13 of the second period.
