Canadiens 3 - 6 Islanders
Final
  for this game

Islanders beat Habs; Gionta sets Montreal milestone

Mar 6, 2013 - 3:38 AM Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - Radek Martinek scored a tie-breaking goal in the third period, as the New York Islanders topped the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3, at Nassau Coliseum.

Matt Moulson and Matt Martin each scored a power-play goal for the Islanders, who improved to 2-2-1 on a seven-game homestand.

"I think it was a character win for our guys but we need some guys to step it up. We have to make sure all 20 guys are going," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano.

New York overcame a one-goal deficit and a blown two-goal lead to end the Canadiens' point streak at 11 games (8-0-3).

Michael Ryder registered three assists for Montreal, which suffered its first regulation loss since Feb. 9.

Down 3-1, the Canadiens pulled even with consecutive power-play goals by P.K. Subban and Brian Gionta.

Subban worked a give-and-go with Andrei Markov at the point before unleashing a slap shot that beat New York goaltender Evgeni Nabokov with 3:11 remaining in the second period. The goal was scored two seconds after a 5-on-3 had expired.

Gionta put home the rebound of another Subban point shot 6:07 into the third. His tally was the 20,000th in the storied history of the Canadiens in the NHL.

The game wasn't tied for long as Martinek beat Carey Price on the short side with a shot from the left point at 7:56.

John Tavares provided some insurance with 1:07 remaining, and Colin McDonald iced the game with an empty-netter in the waning seconds.

Tomas Plekanec was wide open in front and one-timed rookie Alex Galchenyuk's feed from the left corner past Nabokov at the 5:21 mark of the first period.

The Islanders then beat Price three times in the middle stanza, two coming on the advantage.

After pushing the puck into the Montreal zone, former Canadien Mark Streit sent a cross-ice pass from the left boards to Moulson and he snapped a shot behind Price at 1:23.

Brad Boyes set up Martin for a one-timer in the slot at 12:10, then Michael Grabner buried a rebound 48 seconds later.

Game Notes

Martin scored his first career power-play goal ... New York's Kyle Okposo picked up his 100th career assist on Martinek's first goal since Oct. 12, 2011 ... Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey notched his first two career assists. His first NHL goal was the overtime winner against Montreal on Feb. 21 ... Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky missed the game for personal reasons ... The Canadiens fell to 11-3-3 when scoring first this season.






Related News