3 Takeaways: Isles Comeback Falls Short in 5-3 Loss to Habs

The New York Islanders eight-game point streak came to an end on Saturday night, as the Isles fell 5-3 to the Montreal Canadiens at Centre Bell.

Trailing 4-0 after 40 minutes, the Islanders mounted a spirited comeback, getting a pair of goals from Brock Nelson and a tally from Bo Horvat to make things interesting down the stretch. Unfortunately, a great third period couldn’t counteract the two periods that came before it.

“We were really good in the third period, obviously, and if we played that way in the first 40 minutes, we'd be singing a different tune right now,” Head Coach Lane Lambert said after the game.

Cole Caufield was credited with the eventual winner, while Montreal also got a pair of goals from Josh Anderson, a tally from Joel Armia and an empty-netter from Christian Dvorak.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 36-of-40 for the loss – snapping a four-game winning streak for the Isles netminder – while Sam Montembeault stopped 30-of-33 in the win.

Saturday marked just the second regulation loss for the Islanders over the past 16 games (9-2-5).

TIRED ISLES FALL BEHIND EARLY TO RESTED HABS:

The Islanders were slow out of the gate on Saturday night, as evidenced by the lopsided nature of the game through 40 minutes that saw Montreal leading 4-0, outshooting the Islanders 36-16 and generating 14 high-danger chances (at five-on-five) to the Islanders’ three.

“We were sloppy,” Nelson said. “We didn't really generate much the first two periods to get to our game and it cost us a number of times. We dug ourselves little bit too big of a hole to get out of.”

After a scoreless first period that saw the Canadiens hold a sizable territorial advantage, Montreal’s momentum turned into marks on the scoresheet in the second period. Armia opened the scoring at the 7:45 mark, pulling back a wrister in the middle of three converging Islanders and beating Varlamov high. Anderson followed it up 2:50 later, inadvertently blocking a Justin Barron point shot before collecting the loose puck and snapping his second of the season past a screened Varlamov at 10:35.

From there it was all Canadiens, who limited the Islanders to just two shots on goal in the final 15:24 of the middle frame. They delivered the dagger in the final minute of the second, with Anderson and Caufield scoring 15 seconds apart; Anderson stuffing in a puck in the crease, and Caufield one-timing a Nick Suzuki feed while virtually uncovered in the slot.

“You have to have some awareness that they're coming in on us,” Lambert said of the Caufield goal. “It just one of those things where I thought our goaltender gave us a tremendous effort tonight and we didn't give him a lot of help in the first 40 minutes.”

It was fair to wonder if fatigue was catching up to the Islanders, who were playing the second night of a back-to-back after a marathon with the Boston and their seventh game in 12 nights. Despite having a convenient offramp to rationalize Saturday’s loss, the Isles refused to take it – or go away quietly.

“I don't think fatigue was factor,” Dobson said. “I don't want to take anything away from the way they played, they played really well. They came out hard, they knew we were on a back-to-back and they got on us early. We weren't really able to get any traction there till the third.”

ISLES PUT UP A FIGHT IN THE THIRD:

The Islanders did their best to make things interesting in the third, getting within one goal of tying the score. Noah Dobson said the team cited their third period comeback win over LA a week prior, as well as Toronto coming back from a 5-0 deficit to earn a point in a 6-5 OT loss against Columbus on Thursday.

They got goals early with Nelson scoring a pair of goals in the first 3:43 of the final frame to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Nelson got the Islanders on the board with a shorthanded goal at the 2:07 mark, taking a stretch feed from Dobson and beating Montembeault five-hole. It marked the second shorthanded goal of Nelson’s career and first since Dec. 6, 2018. Nelson’s shorthanded marker also doubled as the Islanders seventh shorthanded goal of the season.

The Islanders’ leading goal scorer made it 4-2 shortly after, tapping in a backdoor feed from Dobson at 3:43.

The goal parade stalled until Horvat made it 4-3 at the 14:06, as a Dobson point shot caromed his way and he netted it for his 12^th of the season. In the process, Horvat set a new career-high, stretching his point streak to 10 games.

The Isles pressed for the tie until Dvorak iced the game with an empty netter with 20 seconds to play. New York outshot Montreal 17-5 in the third period, including a 10-1 high-danger chance advantage at five-on-five. Ultimately it was not enough. C’est la vie.

“I thought we played a really good third period, but 20 wasn't enough tonight,” Lee said. “We understood why we lost this game and it wasn't our best tonight and it’s tough to swallow, but we just got to learn from that that we can't have any lulls like we had in the first 40.”

HORVAT HITS 10 GAMES ON POINT STREAK:

With a goal on Saturday Horvat has now recorded points in a career-best 10 consecutive games, with 16 points (7G, 9A) over that span.

“He's feeling it,” Anders Lee said. “Things are coming to him and he's also taking advantage of those opportunities. He's playing great hockey. And when you get in those rolls like that you always feel like something good is going to happen and when you get that opportunity you're feeling good with the puck and that's evident the way he's playing.”

Horvat is up to 30 points (12G, 18A) on the season, second in goals behind Nelson’s 15 and second in points behind co-leaders in Mathew Barzal and Dobson, who each have 32.

As for Dobson, the defenseman recorded the third three-assist game of his career, all of which have come in the past nine games.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders return home to take on Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.