New York Islanders

Instant Islanders: Takeaways From 5-3 Loss To Canadiens

Published

4 months ago

December 16, 2023

The New York Islanders lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3, at Bell Center on Saturday night.

Montreal put up a four spot in the second period with two goals from Josh Anderson and additions from Joel Armia and Cole Caulfield.

Brock Nelson scored twice early in the third period before Bo Horvat made things interesting with a goal of his own, but Christian Dvorak’s empty-netter put the game out of reach.

Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves on 40 shots for New York, while Sam Montembeault stopped 31 of 34 for the Habs.

The loss drops the Islanders’ record to 14-8-8. It was their first loss in regulation in over two weeks and put an end to their eight-game point streak.

But that’s just the box score. Here are the key takeaways from the night that was in Montreal.

Sleepy Start:

Less than 24 hours before arriving in Montreal, the Islanders lost in a shootout to the Boston Bruins, and it was well apparent from the opening puck drop against the Canadiens.

The Islanders sleepwalked through the first period. On tired legs, they struggled to maintain control of the puck, allowing the Habs, who were playing on two days’ rest, to generate six high-danger scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Varlamov steered away 15 shots in the period alone as the Islanders were lucky to be in a scoreless tie entering the first intermission.

They weren’t as fortunate in the second, though.

It still felt as if the Islanders had a fighting chance down 2-0 in the final minute of the period until Anderson and Caulfield scored within 15 seconds of one another to put Montreal up 4-0 entering the third.

Horvat Hurt, Not Update On Status:

Bo Horvat seemed to be in a reasonable amount of pain in the final minute of the third period after he appeared to fall on his hand and wrist following a collision with Montreal’s Christian Dvorak.

Based on what was aired by MSG, there was no update given on Horvat’s status by Islanders head coach Lane Lambert during his postgame media availability.

Earlier in the third, Horvat set a new career-high 10-game point streak by scoring his 12th goal of the season.

Dominated at The Dot:

The Islanders got waxed in the faceoff circle all night long.

As a team, the Islanders won just 16 of 51 total draws.

Bo Horvat, notoriously one of the league’s best faceoff-men, was 7 for 21 in the circle, while the always reliable Casey Cizikias lost all five draws he took.

Meanwhile, every player who stepped in the circle for the Canadiens won at least 50% of their faceoffs.