Islanders' Brock Nelson scores twice, but third-period rally falls short vs. Canadiens

MONTREAL — If the Islanders had played the full 60 minutes the way they played in the third period, they almost certainly would have extended an eight-game streak of collecting at least one point.

But the turnovers and tired legs in the first two periods ultimately were too much to overcome in a 5-3, empty netter-aided loss to the Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre.

“A little too big of a hole to climb out of,” said Brock Nelson, who scored twice — including the Islanders’ seventh shorthanded goal — in the opening 3:43 of the third period to halve the Canadiens’ four-goal edge. “We wanted to just go out there and try to get a couple within the first 10 minutes. We did that to give ourselves a chance.”

“If we would have forced overtime and maybe gotten a point out of it, that changes it,” said defenseman Noah Dobson, who set up all three goals.

“It just wasn’t good enough the first two. They were the better team and it showed. I liked the way we responded, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Some context: The Islanders (14-8-8) were coming off a wild and very lengthy 5-4 shootout loss to the Bruins on Friday night at UBS Arena to conclude a 4-0-2 homestand, then traveled after the game.

“There was a lot of emotional toll taken,” coach Lane Lambert said. “That game was a hard game. At the same time, you have to come and be ready to play. I just didn’t think we had a lot of juice in the first 40 minutes.

“I just thought we were slow. They were jumping on us. They were quick to pucks and we were slow with the answer for that. It was disappointing to see that. I do like the way we finished the game.”

Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves as the aggressive Canadiens (13-13-4) continually pressured his crease in the first two periods, scoring four goals in the second period, including two in the final minute.

The Canadiens’ Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots.

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Canadiens held a 19-3 advantage in high-danger chances in all situations through two periods. In the third period, the Islanders had an 11-1 edge.

“It was ugly for us the first 40,” Anders Lee said. “Our execution, we were off a little bit, and that reared its head at the end of the second.”

Josh Anderson poked in his second goal of the second period during a scramble at the crease to make it 3-0 with 52.4 seconds remaining. Cole Caufield, left open in the slot for Nick Suzuki’s feed, made it 4-0 with 37.9 seconds to go.

“They were one step ahead in the beginning,” Pierre Engvall said. “They were jumping on every puck. They were a little bit hungrier in the beginning.”

Nelson’s short-side wrister off a shorthanded rush spoiled Montembeault’s shutout bid at 2:07 of the third period. Dobson also fed Nelson at the left post at 3:43. He got a third assist as Bo Horvat — extending his point streak to a career-high 10 games — knocked in the rebound of Dobson’s initial shot at 14:06.

Christian Dvorak scored an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining in the third period to clinch it.

Joel Armia roofed a shot from the slot at 7:45 of the second period to open the scoring.

Nearly from the same spot, Anderson connected through Jake Evans’ screen to make it 2-0 at 10:35 as the Islanders were outshot 21-6 in the second period.

“I thought our goaltender gave us a tremendous effort tonight,” Lambert said. “We didn’t give him a whole lot of help in the first 40 minutes.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.