TAKEAWAYS
– After a 35 tightly checked and scoreless minutes, things unraveled quickly for the Islanders, who allowed three goals in a 55-second span.
It started with Suzuki planting himself in the crease and tapping in a Juraj Slafkovsky feed at the 15:56, setting off an unfortunate sequence for the Islanders.
Matthew Schaefer picked up a high-sticking penalty on the Suzuki goal, which led to Demidov burying a backdoor feed from the Canadiens captain on the ensuring power play to make it 2-0 24 seconds later.
Things went from bad to worse 27 seconds later, as Newhook kept, shot and scored on a two-on-one, beating Sorokin stick side. Zach Bolduc rounded out the scoresheet with a 4-1 tally with 14.7 seconds to play in the third period.
“That was the game,” Head Coach Peter DeBoer said of the 55-second stretch. “That’s what a good team does to you. They expose you. We didn’t make a lot of mistakes defensively tonight. I thought we battled pretty hard, but when we did, they, they capitalized.”
– Montreal’s big guns had given the Islanders fits all season. With two points on Sunday, Suzuki finished with six points (1G, 5A) in three head-to-head matchups, while Slafkovsky (2G, 4A) also finished with six points. While Cole Caufield did not find the scoresheet, he also finished the season with six points (4G, 2A) in three games vs New York.
– Sunday also marked the 19th time the Islanders had given up three-or-more goals in a period.