Islanders Survive in Shootout, Down the Canadiens 4-3; Duclair Suffers Injury

ELMONT, NY —      The New York Islanders defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night in UBS Arena. However, the result is overshadowed by the injury suffered by Anthony Duclair. Duclair exited the game early in the third period on a rush chance when he tried to weave through defenders but could not get up under his own power.

The Islanders did not give an update on Duclair’s status postgame.

The Islanders won in a thrilling shootout that lasted nine, count ’em, nine rounds. Noah Dobson scored the winning shootout goal, adding to his best game of the season. Dobson added two assists and registered seven shots on goal in the victory.

Cayden Primeau denied 33/36 Islander shots, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 21/24. Cole Caufield scored two for Montreal, while Logan Mailloux scored his first NHL Goal.

Anders Lee, Bo Horvat, and Kyle Palmieri scored the goals for New York.

The Not-So Special Teams:

Once again, the Islanders’ power play failed them when they really could’ve used it the most. After Caufield scored on Montreal’s lone power play, the Islanders received the last five power plays of the game, including three in the third period and one in overtime. They did not score on a single one of them.

They failed to generate much of anything on those power plays. The closest call came on a Dobson shot that rang iron in OT, which even fooled the fans into thinking he won it.

The penalty kill allowed a goal in five seconds. Yes, Ryan Pulock blocked the first shot. But a lost face-off and Caufield slid open and was able to rip two shots. He’s got six goals in six games, by the way. Not exactly the guy you want to leave open.

First Period:

The first period saw the most action. After a sleepy start, the Islanders scored twice in 2:26 to take a 2-0 lead.

The first goal came on the power play. The play started with Dobson getting it to Mat Barzal, who slid it to Bo Horvat, who one-timed it home. Maxim Tsyplakov set his chicken-wing screen on Primeau to help the cause.

The second goal came off a rush when Palmieri received just a draw-dropping pass from Dobson to send him in with space on the rush. Palmieri rifled it past Primeau’s blocker.

The First Blown Lead:

With under ten seconds to go in the first period, Tsyplakov took a high-sticking penalty. Montreal fed Caufield off the face-off, who fired one that Ryan Pulock blocked. The puck bounced right back to Caufield, who roofed it with 3.5 ticks left in the first period. It took 5.3 seconds for the Habs powerplay to score.

Less than a minute into the second period, Tsyplakov lost his man, Mailloux, in the slot. Mailloux had time to receive the pass, load up, and fire a writer past Semyon Varlamov. In just 1:04, the Islanders blew their two-goal lead.

Third Period Blown Lead:

Lee scored what might’ve been the game-winning goal with 4:36 to play in the third period off a rebound of Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s shot. Calling it a shot by Pageau is disingenuous, as it undermines the subtle art of what Pageau did. He sent a hard, low shot off the far pad of Cayden Primeau, putting the rebound on a tee for Anders Lee to bury with his backhand.

Shortly thereafter, Caufield sent a hard wrister toward the net that just squeezed past Varlamov. It’s one Varlamov would want back, but he did enough in OT and the shootout to ensure the Islanders got both points.

In Closing:

Head Coach Patrick Roy’s postgame press conference talked about the excitement of the game. He credited Montreal’s penalty kill for forcing the Islanders to stay stationary on the outside.

He rued the blown leads but felt the Islanders did enough to ordinarily win in regulation. He’s proud of the effort as a whole and once again praised Lee’s line for how strong they’ve been all season.

The Islanders stay at home and host the Detroit Red Wings, Tuesday night at 7:45.