3 Takeaways: Islanders Fall Short in Shootout Loss to Canadiens

The New York Islanders picked up a point but fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena.
Brock Nelson sent the game into overtime with 2:57 left in regulation, while Kyle Palmieri scored on the power play. Anthony Beauvillier scored the Islanders lone goal in the shootout, but neither Nelson nor Mathew Barzal could convert afterwards. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves on 27 shots in the shootout loss.

Jeff Petry and Josh Anderson scored in regulation for the Canadiens, while Cole Caufield and Rem Pitlick converted in the shootout. Andrew Hammond, who the Canadiens acquired on Feb. 12 from the Minnesota Wild, made 30 saves on 32 shots in his first NHL start in four years, while sporting green Wild pads.
There were positives in the Islanders' effort to attain a point - especially against a revamped Montreal team who has played with some buzz under recent Interim Head Coach Martin St-Louis - but given the Islanders' desperate need for points and ultimately not collecting two points against the 32nd-placed Canadiens, there was some disappointment.
"We're a team that when we can find a way to get that lead, we're confident in holding on and doing what needs to be done," Josh Bailey, who returned to the lineup after missing one game with an upper-body injury, said. "We stuck with it. We found a way to get the one [point]. It's not what we're looking for tonight, but we'll take it and move onto the next one."

TRAILING TREND CONTINUES TO BURDEN ISLANDERS

The Islanders got off to an all-too familiar start, as the team allowed the opening goal for the 11th time in the last 12 games and finished the game with 22 giveaways. In the first period, they were outshot 13-10 by Montreal, who played with some jump. Despite being able to eventually send the game into overtime, the trend of trailing the game didn't afford the Islanders any favors en route to the end result.
CANADIENS 3, ISLES 2 SO
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Palmieri's Power-Play Goal
Nelson's Late Equalizer
"It's obviously harder when you dig yourself a hole," Nelson said. "You have to try harder to generate and manufacture offense. When teams are up they can clamp down a little bit more."
After killing off an early penalty unscathed, the Canadiens' pressure broke at 9:01. As Michael Pezzetta battled with Ryan Pulock at the net front, the chaos afforded Petry's point shot to trickle through the traffic and past Sorokin to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
The Islanders returned from the first intermission determined, pushed and were rewarded in what was an overall dominant period for the group.
After only having one goal in his first 29 games, Palmieri scored his fourth goal of the season and third goal in as many games as he provided the Islanders' 1-1 equalizer early in the second period on the power play. Despite not converting on 37 seconds of a 5-on-3 that carried over to start the second period, the Islanders' extra-man unit came through clutch at 1:29. Josh Bailey set up Zach Parise for a tap-in on the doorstep, but Hammond made the initial stop with the rebound kicking out to the backdoor where a crashing Palmieri buried a backhander.

But despite the good the Islanders managed in the second frame, their dominant second period - where they outshot the Canadiens 12-5 - was deflated by Montreal reclaiming the lead with 1:11 left in the period.
After controlling a shot that caromed off the boards, Montreal's Nick Suzuki zipped a cross-slot pass to Anderson. From a sharp angle, Anderson faked a pass before wiring his shot top shelf over Sorokin's shoulder to double Montreal's lead 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

BIG MOMENT BROCK RETURNS

Down 2-1 heading into the final period of regulation, the Islanders showed resolve in their resilient third period where they pressed the Canadiens and outshot them 9-6. Their determined effort paved the way for Nelson to come through with his clutch heroics that have become a staple of his game in the last few seasons.
"I thought we had a good mindset in the third," Nelson said. "[The mindset was] to try and win a period to give ourselves a chance. We had quite a few looks, stuck with it. It took a while to get one, but we got one."

Nelson chased down a puck and put it through Hammond's five-hole to equalize the score 2-2 with 2:57 remaining in regulation. Kieffer Bellows and Sebastian Aho registered the assists on Nelson's team-leading 17th goal of the season and second goal in as many games.
In overtime, both teams managed promising sequences and chances, but both netminders stood tall forcing the game into the shootout.
In the shootout, Caufield alluded Sorokin and slipped his shot five-hole through Sorokin's pads. Pitlick secured the two points for the Habs as he beat Sorokin with a backhand-forehand sequence. Beauvillier made a nifty forehand-backhand move on Hammond, but neither Barzal, who clanked a backhander off the post, nor Nelson converted in the shootout for the Islanders.

SOROKIN SOLID IN SHOOTOUT LOSS

Ilya Sorokin made his 32nd start of the season and his sixth-consecutive start in a relatively solid performance. With the shootout, Sorokin's record is now 15-11-6.
Sorokin was tested early by quick Habs. The netminder came up with a timely save to bail his team out when they were down 1-0 and afforded their first power play of the game at 11:17. The Islanders - who have given up six shorthanded goals against this season - nearly gave up their seventh, but Sorokin came up with a crucial stop to rob Pitlick's wirst shot with 7:02 left in the period.
His workload wasn't nearly as much in the Islanders' second and third periods, where he only saw a combined 11 shots compared to the 13 shots, he saw in the first period alone. But when the Canadiens did test him, Sorokin was solid to help his team reach overtime.
In OT, Sorokin made three saves, including a sprawling save on Jake Evans to keep the score tied 2-2.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders embark on a five-game west coast road trip with the first stop at Seattle on Tuesday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET at Climate Pledge Arena.