Anderson scores twice, Canadiens hold off Islanders

MONTREAL -- Josh Anderson scored twice, and the Montreal Canadiens held off a third-period rally by the New York Islanders in a 5-3 win at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Anderson scored two of four goals in the second period for Montreal (13-13-4), which won for the second time in its past 10 home games (2-6-2). Sam Montembeault made 30 saves.

“We knew coming in that we needed a big night out of ourselves,” Anderson said. “Obviously them coming off a back-to-back, we needed to take advantage and to have a great start like we did. I thought our first 10 minutes were really good, and then I think we just generated from there and kept rolling. Obviously, it was nice to see a few go in tonight.”

Brock Nelson scored twice, and Noah Dobson had three assists in the third for New York (14-8-8), which had an eight-game point streak end (6-0-2). Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves.

It was the Islanders’ second regulation loss in 16 games (9-2-5).

“It was a little too big of a hole to climb out of, obviously, but we wanted to just go out there and try to get a couple within the first 10 minutes (in the third period),” Nelson said. “We did that to give ourselves a chance and we get one to get within one, so at that point you’re feeling pretty good about our chances and just trying to stay aggressive and stay on it. We just couldn’t find that one late.”

Joel Armia gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 7:45 of the second period with a wrist shot past Varlamov’s glove from the hash marks on the left side of the slot.

Anderson made it 2-0 at 10:35. He spun around in the slot and scored on a screened shot after Justin Barron’s shot from the point hit him and fell at his feet.

Anderson scored again at 19:06 when he drove to the net after taking a pass from Sean Monahan and scored with a backhand between Varlamov’s legs to give Montreal a 3-0 lead.

He had one empty-net goal in the previous 29 games this season.

“He does a lot of other things besides scoring, and I think people look into it a little bit too much,” Canadiens forward Cole Caufield said of Anderson. “But he’s such a good player for our team, so obviously that’s going to get him going a little bit more. So, I’m pumped.”

Caufield stretched the lead to 4-0 just 15 seconds later at 19:21 when he snapped a shot inside the left post from the slot on a pass from Nick Suzuki after Juraj Slafkovsky forced a turnover behind the net.

Nelson made it 4-1 with a short-handed goal at 2:07 of the third. He shot between Montembeault’s pads after he was sent in on a pass by Dobson.

Nelson then cut it to 4-2 at 3:43, tapping the puck in from the right edge on a pass across the crease by Dobson.

“I was on the receiving end of a couple of nice plays by [Dobson],” Nelson said. “The short-handed one, getting me space, and a good play in the [offensive] zone, wheeling with it and finding me backside. When he’s moving and confident with the puck offensively, he’s dangerous and a big weapon for us.”

Horvat extended his point streak to an NHL career-high 10 games (16 points; seven goals, nine assists) when he made it 4-3 at 14:06.

“He’s feeling it,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “Things are coming to him and he’s also taking advantage of those opportunities. He’s playing great hockey.”

Christian Dvorak sealed the victory for Montreal with an empty-net goal at 19:40 for the 5-3 final.

“Our game plan is to be executed based on predictability, what that team does,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “And when they’re down four goals in the third period, they’re not doing that. They were just playing very freely and all over the ice, and for us, it doesn’t matter what I say, we’ve got to feel that as a team. And we’re not in these situations a lot, up three in the third, up four.

“You see it around the League, it’s not like 20 years ago -- there’s not many safe leads almost. So for us, we’ve got to experience that. Tonight, we did. We’ll learn from it.”

NOTES: It was Anderson’s first multigoal game since March 1, 2022, when he scored a hat trick in an 8-4 loss at the Winnipeg Jets. … Montreal scored twice in 15 seconds or fewer for the second time in a week; defenseman Jayden Struble and Suzuki scored 14 seconds apart in the second period in a 3-2 shootout win against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 9. … Horvat had treatment after the game following a collision with Dvorak prior to the empty-net goal. There was no update. … Dobson has 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 30 games; he became the third defenseman in Islanders history to have 30 points in 30 or fewer games. Denis Potvin accomplished the feat nine times, including twice in the first 21 games of the season (1975-76, 1979-80). Jeff Norton had 30 points in 30 games in 1992-93.