The New York Islanders got strong goaltending from Joey MacDonald and timely goals from Sean Bergenheim, Jon Sim and Chris Campoli to down the visiting Ottawa Senators 3-2 Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum. The win gave the Islanders a sweep of the home and home series between the two clubs and handed the Senators their fourth straight defeat. Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza scored for Ottawa.

The Senators came out of the gate strong but couldn't solve MacDonald who finished the game with 38 saves. In the game's first seven minutes, Ottawa outshot the Islanders 8-1. Mike Fisher and Nick Foligno had the best scoring opportunities, but MacDonald was in position and kept the Senators off the board until his team could get into the flow of play, so the first period ended in a scoreless tie.

"We really did good on the forecheck in the first period," Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We took a lot of time and space away from them."

During the first intermission, Islanders' Coach Scott Gordon told his team they needed to score some "ugly goals".

"I told the guys it's probably not going to be pretty goals that will win this game," Gordon said. "The more we get the puck to the net, there's more chances for bounces to happen within your favor. The first two goals were not pretty goals by any means but we created traffic when we got the puck to the net and as a result it was 2-0."

Bergenheim netted the first goal of the game when he poked home the rebound of a shot from the point by defenseman Andy Sutton at the 3:54 mark of the second period.

Jon Sim doubled the Islander lead exactly six minutes later when he scored off a scramble in front of the Ottawa goal. Sim put the puck into the goal before being pushed in himself. The 2-0 lead held up through two periods.

The Islanders kept the pressure on early on in the third and it paid off when Chris Campoli's high shot from the point snuck just under the cross bar and beat Ottawa goalie Alex Auld 3:59 into the final period to make it 3-0 Islanders.

The Senators gained momentum as the third period progressed, however, and finally solved MacDonald during a power play with 6:31 left in regulation. All five Senators touched the puck on a pretty passing play which Heatley finished from just outside the Islander crease. Spezza pulled Ottawa to within one goal with 1:33 left in the game but the Senators couldn't get the equalizer and dropped their fourth consecutive game.

The Islanders have already lost five leads in the third period this season but it felt good to hang on to win this one. Best of all, the players are becoming more confident that they can stay within Gordon's aggressive forechecking system even with a late lead.

"There are going to be games when you don't play great in certain portions of it," Isles' center Doug Weight explained. "We need to make some good decisions and make some big saves and we got them. When we've got a lead, we're told to be aggressive and skate.

"Your initial reaction, for me in the last 10 or more years, is to retreat. Now, [the new system] is becoming second nature. We're in good enough shape to do this consistently."

While the Islanders are gaining confidence, the Senators continue to struggle and grow more frustrated. "We didn’t score on our chances, and they did on theirs," Alfredsson said. "We have to find a way to score goals."

The Islanders will host the Vancouver Canucks Monday night at the Nassau Coliseum while the Senators will travel to Madison Square Garden Monday night to take on the Rangers.

NOTES:

Radek Martinek returned to the Islander lineup after missing the last 14 games with a shoulder injury. Martinek replaced the suspended Thomas Pock in the lineup and had two shots on goal and two hits in 16:40 of action.

Ottawa's Chris Neil played only 2:59 before leaving the game with a leg injury. The severity of the injury is not yet known.

Ex-Mets and Yankees star Darryl Strawberry was on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck before the game. It was Strawberry's first time attending a live hockey game.

The Islanders donated part of the proceeds from tonight's ticket sales to Autism Speaks as part of their "Hockey With a Heart" campaign. The total donation for the evening came to $18,000.

Monday night's game against Vancouver will be "Firefighter Appreciation Night" and a donation will be made to the Stephen Siller Foundation, a firefighter's charity.