Takeaways: Islanders Fall to Canadiens 7-3

The New York Islanders dropped their second straight game on Saturday night, falling 7-3 to the Montreal Canadiens at Centre Bell.

Emil Heineman (PPG), Simon Holmstrom and Matthew Schaefer (PPG) scored for the Islanders, but it was not enough to counteract a big night from Montreal’s top line.

Cole Caufield’s five-point game (3G, 2A) led the way as he, Juraj Slafkovsky (2G, 2A) and Nick Suzuki (4A) combined for 13 points in the contest. Defenseman Kaiden Guhle (1G, 2A) also had a three-point night and Alex Newhook rounded out the scoring for Montreal.

It was just the second time the Islanders had allowed seven goals in a game and first since New Year’s Day against Utah.

Ilya Sorokin was pulled after allowing six goals on 32 shots in the loss in an effort to preserve him for Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which he will start. David Rittich stopped three-of-four shots in relief.

Jacob Fowler stopped 19-of-22 shots in the win.

The loss was compounded by the Pittsburgh Penguins (86 points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (85 points) winning earlier in the day. As a result, the Islanders remain out of a playoff position, two points back of Columbus for third in the Metropolitan Division and one point back of the Detroit Red Wings for the second Wild Card in the Eastern Conference.

TAKEAWAYS

- The Islanders allowed four third period goals on Saturday night, and have given up six goals in the final frame over their past two games. The how was different from night to night, but stopping the trend will be a top priority for the Isles, who haven’t lost three straight games in regulation all season.

“The other night it was too many battles that were lost,” Anders Lee said. “Tonight it was more they made plays through us, and we had a couple missed assignments.”

The third period actually started on a hopeful note for the Isles, as Schaefer scored a power-play goal 45 seconds in to tie the score 3-3. That was the high-water mark, as the tide turned when a Guhle point shot deflected off Marc Gatcomb and past Sorokin at 3:17. Once Slafkovsky found some open space and buried a Caufield feed to make it 5-3 at 8:08 the Isles had to open up – and the floodgates followed. Caufield made it 6-3 at the 11:20 mark and completed his hat-trick with a power-play goal at 14:57. Zach Bolduc nearly made it eight, but the Isles successfully challenged for offside.

“Once we gave up that one to give them the lead again in the third we just kind of broke down after that,” Ryan Pulock said. “What's important is a regroup in here. Tomorrow's huge, so that's where our focus has to be.”

- While the third period snowballed on the Islanders, it was the second period that the Islanders would go onto rue.

The Isles started the second period strong, holding Montreal without a shot for the first 14 minutes of the middle frame and generating two shots off the post from Mathew Barzal and Schaefer.

That’s where Head Coach Patrick Roy said he felt the game “slip away.” Instead of going up 3-1, Montreal scored a pair of goals 1:19 apart to turn a 2-1 Islanders lead into a 3-2 deficit. Newhook beat Sorokin with a one-timer at the 17:49 mark and a Tony DeAngelo penalty turned into a Caufield power-play goal at 19:08. Caufield beat Sorokin high short side from a sharp angle.

- Special teams were another story. The Islanders went 2-for-3 on the power play, but 1-for-4 on the penalty kill. It marked the first time the Islanders had allowed three power-play goals in a game since the Stadium Series against the New York Rangers two years prior.

- Heineman scored his 20^th goal of the season on Saturday, burying a quick wrister high on Fowler at the end of an Islanders power play to tie the score 1-1. It marked Heineman’s first-career 20-goal season. Heineman is the third Islanders player to score 20 goals this season, joining Bo Horvat (28 goals) and Matthew Schaefer (21).

- Holmstrom gave the Islanders their lone lead of the night at 13:19 of the first period, making a slick backhand-to-forehand deke on a breakaway.

- Schaefer netted his 22^nd goal of the season, putting him one shy of tying Brian Leetch for the most goals by a rookie defenseman in NHL history.