Game Recap: Canadiens 4, Islanders 3 SO

The New York Islanders five-game winning streak was snapped on Monday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Barclays Center.
The consolation prize - a single point for a shootout loss - extended the team's point streak to seven games, but that felt a little hollow in the immediate aftermath, as the Isles mulled over how a 3-1 lead got away from them.
"We were awful," Head Coach Barry Trotz said bluntly. "The right team won tonight. That was our worst game of the year… We felt like we gave up a point."
BOXSCORE | POST-GAME VIDEO

The Islanders took a 3-1 lead in the first period on a pair of goals from Casey Cizikas and a tally from Valtteri Filppula, but couldn't hold it as Montreal staged a comeback in the second and third periods. Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi and Arttrui Lehkonen scored in regulation for the Canadiens while Joel Armia scored the lone goal in the fifth round of the shootout for the win.
"We had an opportunity for two points and we obviously let it slip," captain Anders Lee said. "At some point we have to give them credit, but the way we've been playing, this wasn't an example of that at all."

CIZIKAS BUILDS ISLES LEAD IN FIRST:

While Barry Trotz was displeased with his team's overall performance, he offered some praise for Cizikas, who scored a pair of goals and won nine-of-10 face-offs on Monday.
"He's one of the guys that brought energy tonight," Trotz said. "He was good on draws, he had some juice, he had a couple goals. I thought his line was fine."
Cizikas potted two of the Islanders' first period goals on Monday, banging his first in during a goalmouth scramble to open the scoring. Cizikas' second put the Islanders up 3-1, as his cross-ice pass deflected off Jordie Benn's skate back to him before snapping it past Antti Niemi (21 saves) at 14:58.
"It was definitely nice, but would have been better to get the two points," Cizikas said of his two-goal night.
Drouin and Filppula - who finished a two-on-one rush with Leo Komarov - exchanged goals between Cizikas' markers.

THE CANADIENS ANSWER, ISLES LEAD SLIPS AWAY:

At the time of Cizikas' second goal - his fifth of the season - it looked like the Islanders might be headed to a rout. They'd just scored three goals on eight shots and looked to be getting the right bounces, if total control of the game wasn't there.
Instead, Montreal pushed back in the second and third periods, getting into a 3-3 tie off Domi's power-play snipe at 15:36 of the second period and an Lehkonen deflection at 7:43 of the third. Those were the two that found the back of the net, but Montreal was buzzing with all sorts of quality chances during their push. Jeff Petry and Drouin each rang a shot of the iron, while Drouin missed an empty net when he shot a puck across the Isles crease, as Montreal hemmed the Isles in to start the third.
"They came hard, they were all over us, they were hounding us and we didn't have an answer," Cizikas said. "We have to dig deep and find that when we have those type of games."

Tied 3-3, the Islanders had a golden chance to claim the second point, as Montreal was whistled for too many men on the ice with 24.7 seconds to play. The Islanders couldn't convert on a power play that stretched into a 1:34 four-on-three advantage to start overtime.
Thomas Greiss (32 saves) did his part in the five-round shootout, stopping the first four Canadiens shots, but Armia eventually broke through for the winner. Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal and Filppula were unable to solve Antti Niemi (21 saves) in the bonus round.
"It's definitely tough, but we're going to watch video and see what we have to do to be better," Cizikas said. "We just have to bounce back, forget about this and get back to the way we were playing."
Trotz agreed, saying the Islanders just need to look forward, while channeling the play and resolve that built the five-game winning streak in the first place.
"We're going to try and learn from it," Trotz said. "We're a better team than we showed tonight."

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The Islanders head to Florida for a two-game road trip beginning on Thursday in Tampa Bay.