Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
First period
An energetic start from the top line and top defence pair starts the game off in the offensive zone.
A good scoring chance for Alex Newhook follows it up.
Kaiden Guhle erases an attempt by the Islanders to get set up by tossing Anthony Duclair to the boards with a big hit.
The third line comes down for its chance on Ilya Sorokin.
Line number four keeps the pressure on, and that leads to a Casey Cizikas slashing penalty as he whacks Brendan Gallagher.
Relentless pressure from Montreal, now to make it mean something by converting on this power play.
Ivan Demidov is robbed by Sorokin on a cross-crease feed. Juraj Slafkovský is not from an open position right in the slot, and the Slovak opens the scoring.
Slafkovsky is all alone in the slot, and he makes the Islanders pay for it
1-0 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Guhle’s stick breaks, so he tackles Matthew Schaefer in the corner to stop him from scoring. That will immediately give the Islanders a chance to even things up.
Mike Matheson throws a hard hit on Barzal. On the next attempt to cross the blue line, Noah Dobson pastes the Islanders’ scoring leader.
Jacob Fowler didn’t see where the puck went after being slung out of the slot, and had no chance of stopping a hard shot from Emil Heineman that gives each team a power-play goal. He doesn’t often lose track of the puck.
Booing Schaefer, eh? The crowd did that versus Macklin Celebrini. We know how that went.
Newhook turns the puck over on back-to-back rushes trying to stop and make a play in the high slot. He needs to continue on to work in deep where he’s not so exposed.
Brendan Gallagher tries to knock a high clearing attempt down, only for it to fall to Simon Holmstrom. Holmstrom outskates Hutson to go in on a breakaway and scores on a deke. Pressing unnecessarily hard to score ends up in a goal against.
The Islanders have five shots, and two goals.
Tony DeAngelo slashes Cole Caufield, and that will be another Habs power play.
Caufield passes up a shot from the slot only for Suzuki to attempt one from the goal line about 20 seconds later.
We do complain a lot about a power play that ranks sixth in the NHL, but just imagine where it would be if they shot the puck twice as often.
Sorokin is scrambling in the crease. Phillip Danault fights to get the puck back to the point. It goes to Joe Veleno at the side of the net. He moves the puck about 18 inches as he completely flubs the shot.
A couple more chances come close to tying the game, but the Canadiens trail by a goal after an opening 20 minutes that was a complete domination by the Habs other than about two five-second stretches that led to both Islanders goals.
Second period
With the fourth line on the ice, the Canadiens ice the puck twice, then get called for a penalty as Dobson goes off for hooking. That’s a bad shift early in the second period.
Barzal walks in through all four penalty-killers and puts the puck off the post. He beat all five players in red jerseys, but the painted iron stopped him.
Shots are 6-0 New York through seven minutes.
Four Islanders players attack Newhook as he enters the zone, but he learned his lesson and chips the puck in deep.
The Habs need to do … something in this period.
The Islanders ice the puck, but the linesman has decided that Montreal was changing as that’s why no one got to the puck before it crossed the goal line.
They’ve played 11:11. The Habs have zero shots. Someone needs to make something happen.
Schaefer knocks the puck in from behind the net, by reaching up over the net to hit it. That won’t count.
Maybe that will wake Montreal up?
At the 13:28 mark, Slafkovský gets Montreal’s first shot.
Matheson’s stick is snapped in half as he carries the puck around the net, and the refs both decide that is perfectly acceptable. How many times have we seen a call when a player has his stick tapped out of his one-hand grip?
The linesman waves off another icing. The crowd is getting very upset.
Now the Habs have started to generate some offence.
Hutson takes a bit hit in the corner, but gets right up and starts the breakout. In the Islanders’ zone, Newhook rips his one-time chance and ties the game.
Alex Newhook from a sharp angle and we’re all tied up!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 9:49 PM
There’s a loud cheer as play resumes, but I don’t know if that’s for Montreal just tying the game or the linesman calling New York for icing.
Slafkovský gets taken down by Tony DeAngelo, and the Canadiens can really turn the tide here.
The Habs can’t afford to be fancy on this power play after how few shots they’ve taken this period. They come out with a sense of purpose, and Caufield finds a puck-sized hole over Sorokin’s shoulder to give Montreal a lead.
Cole Caufield makes it 41 on the year as he sneaks one over Sorokin
3-2 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Martin St-Louis puts the fourth line out to finish the period, and the Brendan Gallagher tripping penalty in the final seconds is on the coach for using his least-effective trio in that situation.
Montreal turned things up just in time to save themselves from an embarrassing 20 minutes of hockey. They have a lead, and that’s going to force a team that plays its best in a defensive situation to open things up trying to score.
Third period
First to survive the penalty kill to start things off.
They do not. Schaefer scores from the point through Danault’s attempted shot block.
It’s Guhle’s turn to launch a shot from the blue line, and it goes off Marc Gatcomb and in to put Montreal back on top. Danault and Gallagher did well to win the faceoff and get it back to the defenceman.
I thought Joe Veleno might have tipped this, but Kaiden Guhle is getting credit
4-3 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 10:21 PM
The crowd is doing the wave. If that stops them from booing Schaefer, I’m all for it.
They quiet down for his next shift to boo him again.
Jake Evans deflects two shot on goal, but he just can’t get a puck to go in the net.
Fowler makes a calm glove save to send the game to its first commercial break of the final frame. That has to be as nice to see for the players as it was for me after he looked uncharacteristically nervous in the first two periods.
Anders Lee falls over Caufield trying to draw a penalty. Even these refs aren’t buying that one.
Suzuki draws the attention of both Schaefer and Barzal as he goes around the net, and that leaves an open lane for Caufield to find Slafkovský though, and it’s a 5-3 score.
Slaf doubles down on the night and it’s 5-3 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Guhle gets tripped to allow the Islanders to rush into the zone, and the situation requires another glove save from Fowler. It’s outrageous that an infraction directly leading to a scoring chance wasn’t called.
On what fucking planet is this not interference? pic.twitter.com/7k1nmdimNV
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 22, 2026
Guhle gets another shot that Sorokin can’t handle, and Slafkovský collects the rebound to set up Caufield’s 42nd goal of the season.
Mr. Saturday Night makes it 6-3!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 10:37 PM
David Rittich has come in after Sorokin, the goalie who ranks sixth in the NHL in save percentage, gives up six goals.
Guhle is really feeling it now, firing shots from everywhere trying for a fourth point.
Barzal goes after Suzuki in the corner. Guhle races into to get the opponent off his captain.
I don’t mind the Islanders spending the rest of their energy to get into skirmishes late in this game with another one tomorrow. They can slog their way through their match with the Blue Jackets.
Barzal has been kicked out of the game, so not having their top scorer will put any hopes of a miraculous comeback to bed.
Guhle joins him, so he’ll have to settle for his three points in this game, but Montreal gets the power play.
The crowd begins to rise up when a turnover at the blue line leads to a two-on-one for Suzuki and Caufield. They know what’s coming: a Caufield goal. It’s raining hats.
BON SOIR BON SOIR BON SOIR
Caufield hatty on Saturday night!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 10:47 PM
Zachary Bolduc adds an eighth goal, and now all four lines have scored. It doesn’t even matter that it was overturned for being offside. The Canadiens needed a performance like this.
Overtime
Sorry, not tonight, Isles. Good luck versus the Blue Jackets tomorrow.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) An amazing turnaround
2) We won’t forget just because it was a blowout
1) Nostradobes over here
