MONTREAL — This loss to the Canadiens came by entirely different means than two nights ago in Ottawa, when the Islanders just didn’t seem to have it in them. Saturday, though, might be an even worse punch to the mouth.
The Islanders were in this one, leading 2-1 and later tied 3-3. These were two teams in the thick of the playoff race tossing haymakers in prime time in front of a sold-out Bell Centre, the intensity every bit as high as it’ll be in the postseason.
And then Mike Tyson, whaling on some poor sap who couldn’t get knocked out quick enough.
Two nights after playing a disastrous third period in Ottawa, the Islanders were even worse over the final 20 minutes in Montreal.
Montreal’s top line overpowered the Islanders’ trio of Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, breaking the game open as the Habs scored four consecutive goals on the back of Cole Caufield’s hat trick to hand the visitors a disastrous 7-3 defeat that marks a major setback in the playoff race.
“Sometimes there’s no explanation,” coach Patrick Roy said. “The other teams just have talent and they have skills. If you try to open up the game — I can’t blame our guys to try to open up the game as well because you’re trying to come back in the game.”
After the Penguins had won in the afternoon and the Blue Jackets sealed up their victory over the Kraken, it became all the more critical for the Islanders to leave Bell Centre with two points just to keep pace.
They did not, and as a result cannot regain third place in the Metropolitan Division merely by beating Columbus in an equally critical Sunday match on Long Island.
Cole Caufield (13) scores on Ilya Sorokin during the second period for the first of his three goals in the Islanders’ 7-3 blowout loss to the Canadiens on March 21, 2026 in Montreal. NHLI via Getty Images
Paradoxically, the Islanders played a terrific second period, and yet it was when, according to Roy, the night started to slip away from them. After the Islanders held Montreal without a shot for the period’s first 14:26, the Habs erased a 2-1 deficit over the ensuing 5:34, grabbing a 3-2 lead on goals from Alex Newhook and Caufield.
For good measure, the Islanders had hit two posts in the period, and had a Matthew Schaefer goal disallowed for a (very) high stick.
Even after Schaefer scored his 22nd goal of the year to tie it 3-3 on the power play just 45 seconds into the third, the Isles couldn’t retain their composure.
“We gave up a couple,” Ryan Pulock said. “And then we got carried away trying to chase it really hard.”
Kaiden Guhle gave the home side a 4-3 lead minutes later when his shot from the top of the zone deflected off Marc Gatcomb’s stick and in.
Making matters even worse, the Canadiens extended their lead 8:08 into the third on a Caufield-to-Juraj Slafkovsky goal that saw Pulock simply lose track of the Montreal superstar low in the slot.
Simon Holmstrom scores on Jacob Fowler during the first period of the Islanders’ road blowout loss to the Canadiens. AP
Slafkovsky slammed in Caufield’s pass from behind the net, and a home crowd that had been tense all night was singing celebratory olés.
The singing renewed three minutes later when Caufield got on the end of Slafkovsky’s feed to make it 6-3. That prompted Roy to pull Ilya Sorokin in a bid to leave him fresh for Sunday, essentially raising the white flag on the evening.
Caufield added his third on a power play after Barzal’s frustrations boiled over and he unsuccessfully attempted to fight Nick Suzuki, taking a penalty amid the fracas that followed.
On the ice from Long Island
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“Tonight was more they made plays through us,” Lee said. “We had a couple missed assignments. I wouldn’t say it was an effort problem. We thought we were a little short on [that] the other night.”
The Islanders had acquitted themselves well through 40 minutes, matching the Habs blow for blow and playing with far more physicality than they showed Thursday. Sorokin stood on his head in the first; the second was perhaps the best 20 minutes the Isles played on this three-game trip.
None of it mattered.
Not after the Isles wilted away in the third, their best players disappearing in the heat of the Bell Centre cauldron.
Roy tried his best to give some positive spin afterward, noting that the Islanders have 10 of their next 12 at home, where they’ve won seven of their past 10, and just need to regroup and refocus. It’s true enough that if they win Sunday, this won’t be remembered for long.
Here’s what’s also true: Their season took a hard turn in the wrong direction over the past few days. It needs to get fixed. Fast.