Game Preview: Islanders at Canadiens

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (3-2-2) VS. MONTREAL CANADIENS (3-8-0)
7 P.M. ET | CENTRE BELL
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Ça fait longtemps.
It's been a while, but the New York Islanders are headed back to Canada as they take their first trip up north with a stop at Montreal on Thursday night to take on the Canadiens at Bell Centre at 7 p.m. ET.

Thursday's matchup marks the Islanders' first game in Montreal since Dec. 3, 2019. It'll also be the first time that they've faced the Canadiens since March 3, 2020, which inevitably became the final game the Islanders ever played at Barclays Center.
While the two clubs haven't faced each other in competition in a while, they nearly met in last year's postseason. The Islanders fell just short of taking on the Habs as they lost Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, whereas Montreal advanced to the Stanley Cup Final against the Lightning and ended up losing the series 4-1.
With a short offseason behind them, Thursday's matchup will be a good refresher for both clubs. For the Islanders, they are looking to continue adding to their five-game point streak (3-0-2). October was a tough month for the Canadiens, who only picked up two wins over the span of 10 games. Montreal got its first win of November - and a boost with the first of a five-game homestand - as it recorded a 3-0 blanking over Detroit on Tuesday night.
"That was their best," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said of watching Montreal's win against Detroit. "They got back to their pressured, forecheck game. They were pretty detailed defensively and didn't give up much. They were opportunistic, they were hard to play against. This will be a really good challenge. First time going back to Canada since the Bubble really. We're excited about that."

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• The Islanders' special teams showed up big in their 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville on Oct. 30. Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom provided strikes on the power play, while the Islanders' penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4 against Nashville's third ranked power play.
• With his power-play goal, Wahlstrom now leads the Islanders in goal scoring with four this season.
• With an assist on Beauvillier's power-play strike, Josh Bailey now leads the Islanders in points with five (1G, 4A) and is now riding a three-game point streak with four points (1G, 3A) in that span.
• The Islanders now have scored four power-play goals this season for a conversion rate of 20.0%.
• Ilya Sorokin made his seventh-straight start. He entered the contest coming off of back-to-back shutouts last weekend against Arizona (3-0) and Vegas (2-0) that earned him the NHL's Third Star of the Week nod. He posted a career-long 146:54 minutes where he made 81-consecutive saves in that span.
• The Islanders received a boost as they had goaltender Semyon Varlamov on the bench backing up Sorokin for the first time this season after being sidelined with a nagging injury.
• So far this season, the Islanders are 3-1-2 when scoring first and are 0-1-0 when allowing the opening goal.

CANADIENS NOTES:

• Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher got on the board in Montreal's 3-0 win over Detroit, while Jake Allen made 22 saves in his second shutout of the season.
• With a three-point (1G, 2A) outing Suzuki now leads the Habs in scoring with eight points (1G, 7A) through 11 games.
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• Jonathan Drouin, who did not play for the Canadiens last season after April 21, 2021 due to personal reasons has been playing well since returning to the lineup this season. The winger ranks second in the team leaderboard in points with seven (2G, 5A) through 11 games. Unfortunately, Drouin took a puck to the head against Detroit on Tuesday night and was immediately taken to the hospital. It was reported on Wednesday that Drouin is out of the hospital and back with the team. Canadiens Head Coach Dominique confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Drouin is "day-to-day" and will be re-evaluated on Thursday.
• Despite the short offseason, Montreal had a busy offseason. The team acquired the notable additions of centers Mike Hoffman and Cedric Paquette, defensemen David Savard and Chris Wideman, wingers Mathieu Perreault and Christian Dvorak and goaltender Sam Montembeault.
• Through eight games this season, Hoffman leads Montreal in goals with four.
• With new faces, the Canadiens are also missing a key player in goalie Carey Price from their lineup, who is voluntarily taking part in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and has been away from the Canadiens since Oct. 7. Ducharme said that Price's return is expected to be soon.
• With Price out of the lineup, Allen has received the majority of the workload in net. The veteran goalie has recorded a 3-6-0 record, a 2.58 GAA and a .914 SV%. Through two starts this season, Montembeault has posted a 0-2-0 record, a 4.06 GAA and a .869 SV%.
• Paquette was supended for two games for boarding Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras. Paquette served the first game already against Detroit.
• The Canadiens assigned forward Cole Caufield to the AHL's Laval Rocket on Monday and recalled forward Michael Pezzetta.