Monahan, Canadiens defeat Islanders, spoil Roy return to Montreal

MONTREAL -- Sean Monahan scored with 2:12 remaining in the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens recovered for a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders to spoil Patrick Roy's return to Bell Centre on Thursday.

Roy, who won the Stanley Cup twice with the Canadiens, lost in his third game as Islanders coach. He is 1-2-0 since replacing Lane Lambert on Jan. 20.

“I was very proud of our guys, how resilient they were to tie the game,” Roy said. “But it’s unfortunate that we just hurt ourselves with that last play.”

The capacity crowd gave Roy a sustained ovation when a video tribute of the Hall of Fame goalie was shown on the scoreboard during the Canadian national anthem.

“I didn’t know what to expect, honestly,” Roy said. “I never look at the clock, but I got caught looking a bit and I saw something, but in games like this you just want to be focused. I said it all along, it was not about me, it was about my team.”

Monahan had two goals and an assist, and Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for Montreal (20-21-7), which ended a three-game losing streak. Sam Montembeault made 43 saves.

“I don’t think honestly I’ve ever seen that before but it definitely got us going,” Monahan said. “I mean, the crowd’s into it right away and you want to have a good start, and I think we did that.”

Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri scored power-play goals for New York (20-17-11), which came back to tie it after falling behind 3-0 in the first period. Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves in his first start since he sustained a lower-body injury Jan. 2 and was forced to leave during the first period of a 5-4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson assisted on all three power-play goals.

“He’s a legend here, so very well deserving,” Dobson said. “It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to come away with the win for the team and him.”

The Islanders tied it with two goals on a major power play. Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher was assessed a match penalty for elbowing Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech in the head on an open-ice hit at 11:52 of the third. Pelech was attended to on the ice before he skated to the dressing room with a trainer.

Barzal cut it to 3-2 at 14:52 with a shot over Montembeault’s left shoulder from a sharp angle for New York’s second power-play goal.

Palmieri tied it 3-3 at 16:28 when he scored from the left side of the net on a shot from the point by Dobson that was redirected.

Monahan scored from the high slot off a feed from Josh Anderson to make it 4-3.

“It was really emotional,” Montembeault said. “I was really happy that he got that goal. Obviously, it’s a huge goal for us.”

Suzuki’s power-play goal at 7:06 of the first period put the Canadiens up 1-0, finishing off a crisp passing play with Monahan and Juraj Slafkovsky from the goalmouth.

Cole Caufield made it 2-0 at 11:36 when he eluded New York defenseman Samuel Bolduc in front of the net and tucked a shot past Varlamov glove side.

Monahan pushed it to 3-0 with Montreal’s second power-play goal at 12:19.

“Our best players were our best players in the first,” Montembeault said. “So … Suzuki, Cole and (Mike) Matheson, they got us going.”

Roy used his timeout after the goal, nodding up towards the scoreboard a few times as he spoke to the Islanders players around the bench.

Horvat scored his 20th goal on a power play at 3:02 of the second period to cut it to 3-1.

“I thought we were tested there, and I just wanted us to remain focused on what we have to do,” Roy said. “Don’t try to do it on your own, let’s try to do it as a group. There was about what, seven minutes left in the period, let’s get out of there at 3-0. We didn’t need to give up another goal, or let’s try to switch the momentum and try to score the next one.”

NOTES: Dobson is the sixth Islanders defenseman to have three power-play assists in the same game, a feat that hadn't been accomplished since Chris Campoli on Oct. 18, 2007. … Caufield has 10 points (six goals, four assists) during an eight-game point streak, the longest by a Canadiens player since Max Domi had a nine-game streak in 2019-20. … Since 2020-21, Montreal is 11-2-3 when Suzuki and Caufield score in the same game.