Isles fall to Canadiens on Matheson’s OT goal
MONTREAL — Mike Matheson scored in overtime to lift the Montreal Canadiens over the New York Islanders 4-3 on Saturday.
Nick Suzuki broke a ninegame scoring drought, while Justin Barron and Kirby Dach added third-period goals. Mike Hoffman collected three assists and Samuel Montembeault made 27 saves. Their final game wearing their “retro reverse” light blue uniforms was also the Canadiens’ first win in the alternate garb, going 1-6-1 this season.
Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat and Matt Martin scored for the Islanders, and Noah Dobson collected two assists. Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves as New York suffered back-to-back losses.
Montreal opened the scoring in the opening frame after Josh Anderson, double-teamed along the boards, found Rafael Harvey-Pinard. The winger then sent a pass across the crease for Suzuki to put the Habs up 1-0 with seven minutes left in the first.
The Islanders responded with five minutes left when Nelson redirected Dobson’s shot from the point. Nelson extended his career-high point streak to 10 games, the longest for New York since Josh Bailey’s 11-game streak in 2017.
New York took the lead in the final seconds of the second period on the power play. Horvat 4 3 scored from the corner of the boards, banking the puck off Montembeault and into the net. The former Vancouver Canucks captain collected his fourth point (three goals, one assist) in four games as an Islander.
Barron scored his second NHL goal to level the score for Montreal at 4:02 of the final frame. New York regained the lead when Martin redirected Alexander Romanov’s wrist shot from the point.
Montreal tied the game a second time, with 3:16 remaining, after Dach deflected Mike Matheson’s low wrist shot from the blue line to force overtime.
The Islanders found themselves on the man-advantage after Mike Hoffman took a slashing call with 2:31 remaining in overtime. Montreal successfully killed the power play and Hoffman cleared himself for a breakaway.
Varlamov saved the winger’s shot but Matheson picked up the rebound and won the game with a tap-in goal. The goal was reviewed for an offside on Hoffman by the referees, leaving both teams waiting in the tunnels for several minutes.
Saturday’s contest was Romanov’s first game back in Montreal. The Canadiens presented a tribute video in the first period and an emotional Romanov received an ovation from the crowd.
The 22-year-old Russian was traded at the 2022 NHL Draft for the 13th overall selection in a three-team deal that saw Dach move from the Chicago Blackhawks to Montreal.