Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice and had two assists for his first four-point game, and Nick Suzuki had four assists as Montreal’s top line combined for 13 points.
Kaiden Guhle had a goal and two assists, and Jacob Fowler made 19 saves for the Canadiens (38-21-10), who had lost three of four (1-3-0), including 3-1 at the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Matthew Schaefer scored for the Islanders (39-26-5), who lost 3-2 at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday after winning four of five (4-1-0). Ilya Sorokin allowed six goals on 32 shots before he was replaced at 11:20 of the third period. David Rittich saved three of the four shots he faced in relief.
Schaefer’s power-play goal tied it 3-3 when he scored 45 seconds into the third period. It was the 18-year-old’s 22nd goal of the season, moving within one of tying Brian Leetch’s record for the most goals in a season by a rookie defenseman (23 goals in 1988-89).
Montreal then scored four consecutive goals to take a 7-3 lead.
Guhle put Montreal ahead 4-3 at 3:17 before Slafkovsky’s second of the game at 8:08 pushed it to 5-3.
Caufield then scored his second of the game at 11:20 for a 6-3 lead.
Caufield scored his second straight, his 43rd of the season, on the power play at 14:59 to complete the hat trick and make it 7-3.
The Islanders had a goal waved off at 6:48 of the second period when Schaefer’s stick made contact with the puck above the level of the crossbar before going in.
Slafkovsky gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period. He snapped a one-timer past Sorokin’s glove from the top of the right face-off circle for the first of Montreal’s three power-play goals.
Emil Heineman’s power-play goal tied it 1-1 at 6:46. He got to a loose puck and ripped a shot past Fowler’s glove from the left face-off dot.
Simon Holmstrom put New York up 2-1 at 13:19 when he deked Fowler and scored on the forehand for a highlight reel goal after Adam Pelech sent him in alone with a breakaway pass.
Newhook tied it 2-2 at 17:49 of the second period when he one-timed Kaiden Guhle’s pass to score from the right face-off circle.
Caufield’s first power-play goal put the Canadiens up 3-2 at 19:08. He moved along the goal line from the left corner to take a pass from Suzuki before flipping a shot over Sorokin for the most goals in a season by a Montreal player since Stephane Richer scored 51 in 1989-90.
