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Price maintains strong play as Habs beat Isles

Mar 15, 2015 - 4:11 AM Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Carey Price stopped 35 shots and the Montreal Canadiens topped the New York Islanders by a 3-1 count at Nassau Coliseum.

Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Lars Eller lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who had lost five of their last six coming in but maintained their deadlocked position atop the Eastern Conference standings with the Rangers,

"It's always good to get two road points, it's a confidence builder," said Price.

Josh Bailey netted the lone score for the Islanders, who have lost three in a row and fell three points back of the Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

"We have a lot of work to do," said Bailey. "We have to sharpen up."

Michal Neuvirth made 27 saves in defeat.

Bailey finally solved Price with 2:18 to play, at the tail end of New York's fifth power play of the contest, and the Isles closed to 2-1.

Neuvirth was on the bench once more shortly after the ensuing faceoff, but Eller hit the empty net with 24.4 seconds remaining.

Plekanec put the Habs on the board at the 58-second mark of the second period, finishing off an odd-man rush by flipping an Alex Galchenyuk pass home from the right wing.

Pacioretty made it 2-0 while shorthanded at 3:13, all alone in front for a score which resulted from Eller stripping Neuvirth as he tried to play a dump- in behind his net.

Game Notes

Barring a future playoff meeting, the Canadiens played their final contest on Long Island ... Montreal had won 11 of its last 15 games in Uniondale (11-3-1) since November of 2007 ... Plekanec's goal was his 20th of the season, the seventh time he's reached the mark in his career ... The Islanders have dropped four straight home games.