Takeaways: Islanders Eliminated From Playoff Contention After 4-1 Loss to Canadiens

The New York Islanders were eliminated from postseason contention on Sunday night, falling 4-1 to the Montreal Canadiens at UBS Arena.

Casey Cizikas scored the lone goal for the Islanders, but three goals from Nick Suzuki (1G, 1A), Ivan Demidov (PPG) and Alex Newhook (1G, 1A) in a 55-second span sunk the Islanders, who will miss the postseason for a second straight season. The Islanders had not missed back-to-back postseasons since 2017 and 2018.

It was a sour end to a season that started with plenty of promise, but that offered little solace on Sunday.

“It's a disappointing finish to what was going pretty good for quite a while this year,” Anders Lee said. “We put everything we could to making this happen and to pushing ourselves in the playoffs. We faltered in some moments down the stretch here.”

That disappointment was felt around the locker room in the aftermath of Sunday’s loss, as the Isles began to digest and process the implications. Including Sunday, the Isles had gone 1-6-0 in their last seven games and 11-12-0 since the Olympic Break.

“We put ourselves in that spot all year and down the stretch here, when it really mattered and we needed to get the wins we just didn't get the job done,” Bo Horvat said. “It's a pretty crappy feeling.”

TAKEAWAYS

- After a 35 tightly checked and scoreless minutes, things unraveled quickly for the Islanders, who allowed three goals in a 55-second span.

It started with Suzuki planting himself in the crease and tapping in a Juraj Slafkovsky feed at the 15:56, setting off an unfortunate sequence for the Islanders.

Matthew Schaefer picked up a high-sticking penalty on the Suzuki goal, which led to Demidov burying a backdoor feed from the Canadiens captain on the ensuring power play to make it 2-0 24 seconds later.

Things went from bad to worse 27 seconds later, as Newhook kept, shot and scored on a two-on-one, beating Sorokin stick side. Zach Bolduc rounded out the scoresheet with a 4-1 tally with 14.7 seconds to play in the third period.

“That was the game,” Head Coach Peter DeBoer said of the 55-second stretch. “That's what a good team does to you. They expose you. We didn't make a lot of mistakes defensively tonight. I thought we battled pretty hard, but when we did, they, they capitalized.”

- Montreal’s big guns had given the Islanders fits all season. With two points on Sunday, Suzuki finished with six points (1G, 5A) in three head-to-head matchups, while Slafkovsky (2G, 4A) also finished with six points. While Cole Caufield did not find the scoresheet, he also finished the season with six points (4G, 2A) in three games vs New York.

- Sunday also marked the 19^th time the Islanders had given up three-or-more goals in a period.

- Ilya Sorokin stopped 18-of-22 in the loss, marking the fourth time he’d started both sides of a back-to-back set this season. It was hard to fault the netminder on the Habs goals – two backdoor plays, a two-on-one and Bolduc’s putback after a shot off the post – and he did his part to keep it scoreless earlier in the game.

- The Islanders offense got on the board midway through the third period, as a Cizikas deflection made it 3-1. That goal snapped a 118:25 stretch without a goal for the Islanders, and gave the team a bit of life late. The Isles finished the third period with 17 shots, but could not close the gap.

“It's hard to win in this league with one goal,” DeBoer said. “We have to find a way to convert some of the opportunities we're getting into goals, which we really didn't do this weekend.”

- Anthony Duclair drew back into the lineup for the first time since March 31, replacing Ondrej Palat. Duclair skated 11:46 with two shots on a line with JG Pageau and Emil Heineman.

NEXT GAME

- The Islanders wrap up the 2025-26 regular season on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.