Islanders at Canadiens
Reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Carey Price has returned from a lower-body injury and the Montreal Canadiens could be ready to go on another run. The Canadiens, who started the season with nine consecutive victories in October, look to complete a sweep of back-to-back meetings when they host the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Price turned aside 33 shots in a 5-3 victory over New York in Brooklyn on Friday to improve to 8-2-0 on the season after missing three weeks. Montreal has won five straight and eight of the last nine against the Islanders, who have allowed 12 goals in the last three meetings. Brock Nelson has put up eight points (five goals) during a five-game streak for New York, which is 4-5 in November after gaining points in nine of its first 11 contests. The Islanders are 4-3-1 on the road, including a 4-1 defeat at Montreal on Nov. 5 when they managed only 18 shots.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, MSG Plus (New York), SNET, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (10-7-3): Nelson is one of several players surging offensively of late including captain John Tavares, who has four points (two goals) in the last two games. Kyle Okposo, who has 17 points to trail Tavares for the team lead, has posted six - all assists - in his last four contests and Frans Nielsen registered five (three goals) in the past three games. Jaroslav Halak was pulled in Friday’s loss in favor of Thomas Greiss after three goals against, but coach Jack Capuano told reporters: “It wasn’t all Jaro. Our goalies have been there all year for us.”
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (15-4-2): Montreal is among the league leaders in scoring, goals against, power play and penalty kill through the first quarter of the campaign. The Canadiens have shown plenty of balance on offense with forwards Brendan Gallagher, captain Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec each recording 19 points while defenseman P.K. Subban has 17. Special teams has been a concern of late with the power play getting shut out in 14 tries over the last four games and the penalty-killing unit surrendering four tallies in the last four games.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal D Andrei Markov needs two assists for 400 in his career and Pacioretty is one away from 300 points.
2. Islanders D Thomas Hickey, out almost a month with a left leg injury, has been skating and could return in the next week.
3. The Canadiens were second in the league in scoring (3.52) entering Saturday’s games after finishing 20th last season (2.61).