HABS WIN IN SHOOTOUT
Rally after Isles go ahead 3-1
Joel Armia scored in the fifth round of a shootout to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Islanders Monday night at Barclays Center. The Canadiens came back from a 3-1 deficit to avoid taking a second consecutive loss for the fourth time this season. They improved to 8-4-2. The Canadiens found themselves in a hole when they were called for having too many men on the ice with 26 seconds remaining in regulation time, but they managed to hold off the Islanders, who went into overtime with a 4-on-3 advantage. Things weren’t looking good for the Canadiens as they fell behind 3-1 in the first period. But a second-period power-play goal by Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen’s deflection at 7:43 of the third period pulled the Canadiens even. When Canadiens coach Claude Julien talked to the media after the morning skate Monday, he talked about the need for his team to clean up a few things. One of those things was taking care of the puck, particularly in the neutral zone. But it was a neutral zone turnover that gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead in the first period. Leo Komarov took the puck from Brendan Gallagher in the neutral zone and that produced a 2-on-1 break with Komarov setting up Valtteri Filppula for a goal, giving the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 7:44 of the first period. After the morning skate, Gallagher noted that the ice at the Barclays Center leaves something to be desired and, in his defence, the puck seemed to jump over his stick as he tried to control a pass. It wasn’t the only bounce that went the Islanders’ way. Later in the first period, Casey Cizikas and defenceman Johnny Boychuk came into the Montreal zone with a 2-on-1 advantage, Cizikas attempted to pass to Boychuk, but the pass was blocked by Jordie Benn. Unfortunately for the Canadiens, the puck came back to Cizikas and the fourth-liner scored his second goal of the game. And the Islanders took advantage of a bounce to score their opening goal. Adam Pelech’s shot hit Antti Niemi high on the chest, and Cizikas scored his first goal off a scramble in front. There were some encouraging signs from the Canadiens’ special teams. The power play, which had gone five games without a goal, closed the gap to 3-2 in the second period when Domi scored his eighth goal of the season. The Canadiens’ penalty killers had a good night. Montreal was short-handed four times and allowed only three shots on goal.