Islanders beat Canadiens on Noah Dobson's ninth-round shootout goal

The Islanders just don’t make things easy for themselves. And things may get tougher with a potential injury to top-line left wing Anthony Duclair.

They were unable to convert on three third-period power plays and one in overtime, unable to hold a two-goal lead in the first period and a one-goal lead late in the third period and unable to turn a 37-24 shot advantage into a decided edge.

It turned into a 4-3 shootout win in nine rounds on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Defenseman Noah Dobson scored the decisive shootout goal.

Anders Lee bulled his way to the crease to knock in the rebound of Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s shot to give the Islanders (2-1-2) a 3-2 lead at 15:24 of the third period. But Cole Caufield, with his second goal, tied it at 17:50 with a shot that trickled underneath Semyon Varlamov’s right arm.

Duclair, signed as a free agent to a four-year, $14 million deal, exited at 3:19 of the third period, helped off the ice by linemate Bo Horvat without putting weight on his right leg. He went down awkwardly while trying to split the Canadiens’ defense to get to the net.

Saturday marked the start of a stretch of four of five at home after the Islanders were shut out twice in a 1-1-1 road trip.

Varlamov got his third start of the season after Ilya Sorokin was in net for the last two games of the road trip, notching 32 saves in Monday’s 6-2 win over the Avalanche and 29 in Thursday’s 1-0 overtime loss to the Blues.

Coach Patrick Roy said his goalie rotation right now is all about keeping both netminders sharp.

Roy almost made his first lineup change of the season among his skaters, inserting speedy right wing Julien Gauthier for sharpshooter Oliver Wahlstrom onto Kyle MacLean’s fourth line with Casey Cizikas.

The Islanders took a 2-0 lead at 16:58 of the first period as Kyle Palmieri, shaken up on a rush to the net five minutes earlier, lifted a shot to the far post on a rush up the right. Horvat’s power-play one-timer from the slot off Mathew Barzal’s feed opened the scoring at 14:32.

The Islanders then had two good chances to extend their lead. But Barzal shot wide on a two-on-one rush with Duclair at 17:51 and netminder Cayden Primeau smothered Pageau’s shot as he cut to the slot to receive Lee’s feed at 18:29.

Instead, the Canadiens (2-3-1) halved their deficit with 3.5 seconds left in the first period as Caufield connected from the left on the power play after defenseman Ryan Pulock blocked his first attempt. Max Tsyplakov was whistled for high sticking with 8.8 seconds remaining.

Defenseman Logan Mailloux tied it at 2-2 with a rising shot from the slot just 59 seconds into the second period. The Islanders were unable to retake the lead despite hemming the Canadiens in their zone — with Oliver Kapanen defending after losing his stick — for a stretch of three minutes, 43 seconds midway through the second period.

Notes & quotes: The Islanders went 1-for-6 with nine shots on the power play while the Canadiens were 1-for-1 . . . Defenseman Dennis Cholowski remained the other healthy scratch.

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.