Game 68: Montreal Canadiens @ New York Islanders
Start time: 7:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
Despite winning three of the previous four games as NHL trade deadline day hit on March 7, the New York Islanders ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference standings with five teams between them and a wild-card spot. General manager Lou Lamoriello, who has generally kept his group of players together since joining the Islanders organization, made the decision to trade Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche to obtain a first-round draft pick. Shipping out the second-leading scorer seemed to signal the end of the Islanders’ playoff hopes. However, they’ve managed to stay in the fight.
Since the deadline the Islanders are 3-2-1; not an amazing record by any means, but better than several clubs in the race have been able to achieve. The Boston Bruins, who left no doubt about their intention to begin a rebuild by shipping out almost every notable player save David Pastrnak, have gone 2-2-1; the rival Rangers are back in the doldrums with a 2-4-1 mark; the Detroit Red Wings and 2-4-0; and the Columbus Blue Jackets had one big win over the Rangers after the deadline, then have rattled off four consecutive regulation losses. So it’s more the (un)doing of the teams that were ahead of the Islanders, but the club now sits 10th in the Eastern Conference, and three points behind the second wild-card slot the Canadiens now occupy.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Islanders |
|---|---|---|
| 33-27-7 | Record | 31-28-8 |
| 4.0% (27th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 49.9% (16th) |
| 3.00 (13th) | Goals per game | 2.70 (26th) |
| 3.24 (25th) | Goals against per game | 2.94 (17th) |
| 21.9% (17th) | PP% | 11.5% (32nd) |
| 81.7% (8th) | PK% | 71.2% (31st) |
| 1-0-1 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-0-1 |
The Islanders had the fortune of facing the Canadiens for the first time this season in the opening month of action when every Habs player forgot how to play defence. On that particular night on October 19, both teams also forgot how to score in breakaway situations, and it took nine rounds of a shootout to reach the 4-3 decision for New York. It was a less eventful match when the clubs met up on December 3 when Nick Suzuki sealed a 2-1 win for Montreal in overtime.
Whether regulation sees six goals or two goals, the games have been close between the two teams, and you can probably expect that to be the case again in the rubber match. Both teams are still riding the high of a comeback victory in their previous game and want to maintain that winning feeling.
The advantage for Montreal could be found on special teams. The Canadiens scored a power play goal in each of those games that fell in the first half of the season, and things haven’t improved much for New York since while playing a man short. Their penalty kill ranks 31st in the NHL, which is surprising considering that they’re seventh-best in goals against at five-on-five. Montreal has scored one power-play goal in each of the past three games, and both units have looked dangerous at times during that brief run.
The fact is that that production on the man advantage is just a small fraction of the Habs’ recent output. They have 17 goals (factoring in three empty-netters) in the last four games, receiving offence from throughout the lineup. The Islanders may be able to focus on a line or two and contain their offensive play, but there are two more and couple of defence pairings that could still punch through to give Montreal a ninth win since the 4 Nations Face-Off concluded.
