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Senators Beat Islanders 5-1

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Kyle Turris scored twice and had a pair of assists, Milan Michalek added his team-leading 35th goal and the Ottawa Senators clinched a playoff berth with a 5-1 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday.

The Senators (41-28-10) won their fourth straight game to move four points behind idle New Jersey for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have three games left before the regular season ends Saturday. The Senators, with 92 points, are four ahead of eighth-place Washington.

The Islanders (33-35-11) lost their second straight at home after two rousing wins over Pittsburgh to reach the .500 mark. New York was eliminated from playoff contention for a fifth straight season with Saturday's 6-3 home loss to Boston.

Islanders defenseman Mark Streit opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season on a pass from John Tavares at 7:55 of the first period.

Turris, acquired from Phoenix on Dec. 17, tied the game on his 11th goal with 3:20 left in the first on assists from Michalek and defenseman Sergei Gonchar.

Gonchar scored at 3:09 of the second after a slick behind-the-back pass from Michalek, whipping the puck past Islanders goaltender Al Montoya. It was Gonchar's fifth of the season.

Michalek pushed it to 3-1 roughly 3 minutes later and Nick Foligno scored with 6:39 left in the period to make it 4-1.

Turris added his second of the game 7:00 into the third.

Ottawa dropped a 2-1 overtime decision at home to the Islanders on Feb. 3 but has outscored them 16-3 in three meetings since — all victories.

The Senators routed New York 6-0 on the road Feb. 20, getting two goals and four points from Erik Karlsson, who leads all NHL defenseman with 78 points. Ottawa also beat the Islanders 5-2 at home on Feb. 26.

The Senators missed the playoffs last season and haven't advanced past the first round since they reached the 2007 Stanley Cup finals, losing to Anaheim in five games.

New York had won three straight and five of six coming into this weekend. The Islanders have not been above .500 this late in a season since 2007.

NOTES: The Senators were without captain Daniel Alfredsson (flu) and leading scorer Jason Spezza (birth of second daughter). ... The Islanders fell to 19-42-14 all-time against the Senators. ... Matt Moulson extended his games-played streak to 243. He hasn't missed a game in his Islanders career. ... Karlsson is the youngest NHL defenseman to reach the 70-point mark since Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers did it in 1988-89.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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