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Canadiens take down penalty-prone Islanders

Nov 11, 2013 - 2:46 AM Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Lars Eller and Michael Bournival scored second-period power-play goals to snap a tie and sent Montreal to a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Bell Centre.

Alex Galchenyuk added a goal and two assists to post a new career high in points for the Canadiens, who stopped a four-game losing streak.

Brendan Gallagher also tallied to back a 24-save effort from Carey Price.

"Right from the puck drop we came out and played 60 minutes," said Gallagher. "For the most part it was a total team effort. That's when we're having fun, when we're all contributing, everyone playing hard. Hopefully that continues."

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, who have dropped four in a row. Montreal native Kevin Poulin manned the crease, but gave up all four goals on 31 shots.

"It's frustrating," said Islanders coach Jack Capuano. "We did some things but we made a lot of mistakes, silly mistakes."

Nelson was credited with a redirection of a John Tavares chance on a third- period power play for the Islanders, cutting their deficit to 3-2 at 4:10. A brief review upheld the original call on the ice, which was that a kicking motion was not used.

The Habs struck back to restore their two-goal edge with 9:23 remaining on Galchenyuk's tip of an Eller pass which completed a three-way passing play.

Any hopes of an Isles comeback were derailed when Thomas Hickey was sent off for hooking with 2:36 remaining.

Gallagher put the Habs on the board at the 1:46 mark of the second period with a low shot from the right wing.

Price denied Kyle Okposo's backhander in front during an Islanders power play minutes later, but the visitors broke through on the advantage at 7:23 on Bouchard's blast from the bottom of the left circle.

Eller gave the hosts a 2-1 lead with 3:46 on the period clock, ripping home a cross-ice feed from Galchenyuk with Isles forward Michael Grabner in the box for shooting the puck out of play.

It was 3-1 for Montreal inside the final minutes, after Bournival tipped in a Raphael Diaz blast during the back half of a double minor for high sticking to Hickey.

Game Notes

Galchenyuk recorded two points in a game on eight occasions before recording Sunday's career high ... New York won two of three from Montreal during the lockout-shortened 2013 season, including the lone Quebec matchup ... The Islanders scratched forward Thomas Vanek with an upper-body injury.