"The only consolation for the Ottawa Senators — and it's small consolation, indeed — is that the Toronto Maple Leafs can't catch them in the standings when the Battle of Ontario resumes tonight at Scotiabank Place.

Yet picking up a mere single point in Friday's 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Islanders left a hollow feeling. A three-point lead on the Maple Leafs isn't much of a lead at all, considering that Toronto has played three fewer games.

The ultimate insult Friday came in the form of the game-winning goal scorer. Mark Eaton, a defensive defenceman playing in his 600th career game, was left alone to tap in a backhand past Senators goaltender Craig Anderson at the 2:35 mark of overtime. It was Eaton's first goal of the season.

This is what a slump looks like. The Senators have now lost five straight games. They've blown a third-period lead in the past two games. This time, though, it wasn't against the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. Rather, it was the New York Islanders, who began the night in 13th spot in the Eastern Conference standings and long ago gave up hopes of making the playoffs.

"We didn't have the same jump we had Tuesday in Boston," understated Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson. "Hopefully, (tonight) we have more energy. Then we can draw more some penalties and get more power plays."

It won't do much good if their play with the manpower advantage is anything like it was on their two dreadful opportunities Friday. Coach Paul MacLean put it bluntly.

"I thought the power play sucked the life out of us," he said.

Yet that was only one of the many failings for the Senators against the Islanders.

They had a poor start — outshot 14-8 in the first period — and a poor finish.

When they did take control in the middle of the game — Zack Smith's short-handed goal with 13 seconds left in the second period gave them a 1-0 lead and marked the first time in nine games they had scored first — they made a costly mistake to give up the edge."