National Hockey League
Montreal 4, NY Islanders 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, January 25, 2024
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees: Jon McIsaac, Francois St. Laurent
Linesmen: Steve Barton, Tommy Hughes
Attendance: 21105

Sean Monahan's second goal of the night broke a tie with 2:12 remaining in regulation and the host Montreal Canadiens spoiled a visit from franchise legend and recently named Islanders coach Patrick Roy with a 4-3 victory over New York on Thursday.

New York trailed 3-1 when Montreal's Brendan Gallagher delivered an elbow to the head of Adam Pelech with 8:08 remaining in the third period. That resulted in a match penalty for Gallagher and a five-minute power play for the Islanders.

Mathew Barzal got the Islanders within one on a wrister three minutes into the penalty, and Kyle Palmieri made good in front of some net-front traffic to tie it in the waning seconds of the man advantage.

However, back at full strength and off a New York own-zone turnover, Monahan drove home a feed from Josh Anderson for the tiebreaker.

Montreal's Sam Montembeault, who made 43 saves, survived another late Islanders flurry as the Canadiens snapped a three-game skid.

Monahan also had an assist, while Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki each had a goal with an assist for Montreal.

The Islanders fell to 1-2-0 under Roy, the Canadiens legend who replaced Lane Lambert as coach. Barzal, Palmieri and Bo Horvat each had a goal and an assist for New York, which is mired in an 1-5-1 rut. Noah Dobson contributed three assists, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 shots.

Montreal opened the scoring 7:06 into the game. On a power play, some tic-tac-toe passing from Monahan to Juraj Slafkovsky and Suzuki ended with Suzuki's first goal since Jan. 2.

Thanks to an own-zone turnover by the Islanders, Suzuki then had a hand in the Canadiens going up 2-0 with 8:24 remaining in the first. He found a surging Caufield, who moved to position himself to beat Varlamov for his sixth goal in seven games.

Just 43 seconds later, Montreal again struck on a power play. Montembeault, who earned his third career assist, sent the puck to Mike Matheson, who broke down the right wing, then dropped a pass for Monahan to convert.

The Islanders got on the board 3:02 into that second period via a five-on-three power-play that finished with Horvat's wrister.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
NY Islanders   Montreal
Noah Dobson 3 Points Sean Monahan 3
Mathew Barzal 1 Goals Sean Monahan 2
Noah Dobson 3 Assists Sean Monahan 1
Mathew Barzal 1 Power Play Goals Sean Monahan 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Semyon Varlamov .846 Save Percentage Sam Montembeault .935
Semyon Varlamov 22 Saves Sam Montembeault 43
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
NY Islanders 46 3 3-8 3-5 10 26
Montreal 26 4 2-5 5-8 15 24
Upcoming Games
  • Montreal will play their next game on the road against Pittsburgh. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .300 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • NY Islanders will play their next game at home against Florida. The Islanders have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .429 after a loss.