Marc-Andre Bergeron scored in the first period to give Montreal its
first two-goal lead of the season, sending the Canadiens on to a 5-1
win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Max Pacioretty, Mike Cammalleri and
Maxim Lapierre also scored for Montreal (4-5), which won in regulation
for the first time in 13 games dating to last season.
Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves in his
second straight start after helping the Canadiens stop a five-game
losing streak Tuesday night with a 2-1 shootout win over Colorado.
Halak lost his shutout bid 54 seconds into the third when he misplayed
a dump-in behind his net that led directly to Josh Bailey‘s
short-handed goal.
Bailey drew New York to 3-1 after
Bailey easily stripped the puck from Halak and came out front to slide
a backhand into the gaping net while the Slovak goalie made a desperate
lunge to get back in position.
Martin Biron stopped 38 shots for the
Islanders (1-4-3), who claimed their first win of the season one night
earlier when John Tavares scored the deciding goal in a 4-3 shootout
win over Carolina.
Bergeron and Cammalleri connected on
the power play as the Canadiens went 2-for-6, the first time Montreal
has scored more than once with the man advantage since a season-opening
4-3 overtime win in Toronto on Oct. 1.
Including the last four games of last
season, the Canadiens hadn’t won in regulation since a 6-2 win in
Toronto on Apr. 4. Montreal also lost four straight to Boston in the
first round of the playoffs.
Gomez scored his second goal 7:55 in
when he snapped a shot into the top left corner from the slot after the
puck dropped behind Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek, who failed to
glove a puck flipped from the blue line by Montreal’s Jaroslav Spacek.
Glen Metropolit returned to the
Canadiens’ lineup after missing six games because of a rib injury and
played a big role in giving Montreal a 2-0 lead.
The veteran center fed the puck back
to Paul Mara at the left point after Tomas Plekanec won a faceoff on
the left side of the Islanders’ zone. Mara passed across to Bergeron,
who drove a low slap shot inside the right post.
Pacioretty made it a 3-0 lead with his first of the season 3:34 into the second.
Cammalleri restored the Canadiens’
three-goal lead with their second power-play goal midway through the
third. Lapierre added his first at 12:59 when he slapped home a loose
puck in the crease.
Notes
Bergeron played 69 games with
the Islanders over parts of two seasons from 2007-08. He had 14 goals —
including seven on the power play — and 32 points with Minnesota last
season. … Canadiens G Carey Price sat for the second straight game.
Price, whose next appearance will be his 100th career game, is 2-4 in
six starts this season with a 3.36 goals-against-average and a .886
save percentage. … Montreal enforcer Georges Laraque wasn’t in
uniform for the first time this season. Laraque has one assist and five
penalty minutes in eight games.