OTTAWA, Ontario — Claude Giroux scored a second-period power-play goal that proved to be the game-winner Wednesday night as the Islanders couldn’t pull out of their tailspin and lost, 2-1, to the Senators.

The Islanders (23-22-5) continued to struggle as their winless streak reached six games (0-4-2). Brock Nelson scored the lone goal for the Islanders, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 shots.

Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators (21-23-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory. Anton Forsberg, who stopped 21 shots, was called into action in the second period after Cam Talbot, who made 14 saves, left the game with an injury.

“We battled,” said Casey Cizikas. “You can’t take that away. We battled hard. We worked. It’s just unfortunate. We’ve got to find a way to win these games. It’s definitely tough, but we’ve got to dig deep. We’ve just got to find a way.”

Trailing by one goal the Islanders pushed hard for the equalizer with Varlamov on the bench, but Forsberg made a couple of big saves to salvage the win.

Both teams exchanged goals in the second, but the Islanders were able to finish the period with a bit of momentum.

“I thought as the game went on we started to take the game over a little bit, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” said Islanders coach Lane Lambert.

Ottawa took a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal early in the second period. Giroux saw a rebound coming his way and dove to get a shot off and managed to beat Varlamov for his second point of the game. Ridly Greig, making his NHL debut, picked up the primary assist on the play.

Talbot pulled himself from the game near the halfway mark and the team announced he had suffered a lower-body injury.

Forsberg faced a couple of early shots and the Islanders managed to cut the lead in half late in the second period when Nelson scored from the slot.