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 The Canadiens killed off a delay of game incurred by Petry just
beyond the midway point of the third period on Friday night when
they hung on to beat the New York Islanders 5-3 at the Barclays
Center.
Petry jump-started a three-goal first period by the Canadiens by
scoring 2:52 into the game and extended the lead to 4-2 by
redirecting a shot by defenseman Nathan Beaulieu with 5:11 left in
the second.
Petry entered with just one goal in the first 20 games of the season
and 21 games in 334 career games overall.
"There's plenty of chances in some previous games not getting the
bounces," Petry said. "Just got a couple bounces tonight."
Petry earned himself a couple of stressful minutes at 9:19 of the
third period when he was whistled for flinging the puck over the
glass just 1:56 after Islanders center Brock Nelson scored his
second goal to close the Canadiens' lead to 4-3.
"Taking a penalty like that -- if it's a hard penalty, you feel a
little better about it," Petry said with a grin. "But delay of game,
it's a painful two minutes sitting there."
The Islanders actually mounted a bigger threat after the power play,
during which they didn't get a shot on net. Thirty-two seconds after
the teams returned to even strength, New York left winger Matt
Martin's shot from point-blank range trickled under the legs of
Canadiens goalie Carey Price but slowed to a stop on the goal line.
"We had our chances," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We just
couldn't get one. Matt Martin's just stood on the goal line there."
The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 11-5 in the third period and
36-28 overall but could not come all the way back from a 3-1
first-period deficit.
In the first, Nelson's first goal tied the score 1-1 with 8:03 left.
But his score had not even been announced when left winger Tomas
Fleischmann's goal gave the Canadiens the lead for good just 35
seconds later.
Defenseman Nathan Beaulieu scored with 1:53 left in the period to
cap the Canadiens' second three-goal period against the Islanders
this season. Montreal also scored three goals in the third period of
a 4-1 win on Nov. 5 at the Bell Centre.
The fast start was essential for the Canadiens, who fell behind 3-0
in each of their previous two games and were playing the second game
of a back-to-back set Friday. Montreal lost to the Arizona Coyotes
3-2 at home on Thursday.
"When you play back-to-back games -- when you (get) to the third
period, the energy level won't be the same," Canadiens coach Michel
Therrien said. "It was crucial for us to get such a great start and
we capitalized on our chances."
The flurry chased Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak, who was replaced
by Thomas Greiss to start the second period. It was only the third
time that Halak has been pulled in 69 starts with the Islanders and
the first time it happened before the third period.
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"I told him after the first we had to get a little bit of a spark
from our team," Capuano said. "It wasn't all Jaro. You're going to
have games like that where maybe you're not feeling it."
Greiss had 15 saves and Halak recorded eight saves.
While the Islanders had some goaltending issues Friday, stability
returned to the net for the Canadiens. Price, who missed the
previous nine games with a lower body injury, collected 33 saves and
stopped the Islanders' final six shots before right winger Brendan
Gallagher iced the game for Montreal by scoring an empty-netter with
19 seconds remaining.
"That first period, your timing might be off, you're trying to catch
up," Price said. "I thought by the third period, things started to
slow down again."
With the win, the Canadiens (15-4-2) moved ahead of the idle New
York Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference and tied the
idle Dallas Stars for the most points in the league.
Defenseman Travis Hamonic, playing his first game sine his request
to be traded to a team closer to his Manitoba home was made public
scored 39 seconds into the second period for the Islanders (10-7-3),
who had a two-game winning streak snapped and have lost seven of 11
(4-5-2).
NOTES: The Islanders scratched LW Taylor Beck, G Jean-Francois
Berube and D Adam Peluch. ... Islanders D Thomas Hickey, who hasn't
played since suffering a left leg injury on Oct. 24, skated with the
extra players during morning skate. ... The Canadiens scratched C
Torrey Mitchell (lower body) and D Jarred Tinordi. ... With G Carey
Price back, the Canadiens sent G Dustin Tokarski to St. James of the
AHL. ... The Canadiens and Islanders complete the season series on
Sunday in Montreal. It's the first time since 1975-76 that the two
teams completed the season series before Jan. 1.
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