OTTAWA, Ontario — Islanders players voiced their support for Lane Lambert after president/general Lou Lamoriello gave his first-year coach a vote of confidence.
And then the Islanders went out and lost a season-worst sixth straight game.
The Senators won, 2-1, on Wednesday night at Canadian Tire Center as the Islanders (23-22-5) had their skid extended to 1-7-3 as they spiral further away from playoff contention.
Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves but the Islanders have now been outscored 34-17 over the last 11 games. They went 0 for 3 on the power play and are now 3 for 59 on the man advantage over the last 22 games, including 0 for 20 in their last eight.
And they were held without a third-period goal for the 11th straight game, thwarting their attempt to rally from a two-goal deficit against the Senators (21-23-3), who had lost four of their last five.
“We’ve never really doubted the coaching staff,” Anthony Beauvillier said before the game. “We’re all in this together. We’re a big family. We want to get out of it together. There was never the thought of changes or anything like that. We feel like we’re a good team and we’ve proven that in the past.”
Lamoriello hasn’t relieved a coach of his duties during the season since firing Pete DeBoer as Devils coach on Dec. 26, 2014. But that marked the ninth time he made an in-season move behind the bench as Devils president/general manager, twice stepping in as coach himself.
“We find out about it ([he vote of confidence] through you guys,” captain Anders Lee said of the media. “I don’t think it’s something that’s even talked about on our end. It seems like it’s a question asked throughout the league when teams aren’t doing well. And then the GM has got to say something.
“I know his belief in Lane and we have it with ourselves in this group and with our coaching staff. Those aren’t the reasons why we’ve struggled. It’s been a group effort. We win together and we lose together.”
Lee praised Lambert’s performance as the team has struggled.
“This hasn’t been an easy stretch and it can be tough to navigate,” Lee said. “There’s mood swings and highs and lows. I think they’ve done a really good job of handling it and keeping us guys on line and focused on the process and the end goal.”
The players do have a strong familiarity with Lambert, who served as Barry Trotz’s associate coach for four seasons before being promoted.
All-Star Brock Nelson extended his point streak to four games with a quick forehander from low in the slot past Anton Forsberg (21 saves) to bring the Islanders within 2-1 at 16:07 of the second period. Forsberg replaced Cam Talbot (14 saves) at 8:05 of the second period after the starter exited with a lower-body injury.
The Islanders trailed 1-0 at 15:48 of the first period when Shane Pinto scored his first career goal against his hometown team, though he did grow up rooting for Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. Claude Giroux’s power-play goal at 3:28 of the second period made it 2-0.
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Noah Dobson missed a second straight game with an unspecified injury ... Rookie Aatu Raty played in his 10th NHL game, meaning this season will be the first that counts toward his three-year, $2.8 million entry-level contract ... Rookie defenseman Samuel Bolduc, playing in his second NHL game, was inserted as the quarterback on the first power-play unit ... Ridly Greig, selected 28th overall in 2020 with a pick acquired from the Islanders for Jean-Gabriel Pageau, made his NHL debut for the Senators. He assisted on Giroux’s power-play goal.
