After losing five of their last six, the Canadiens reversed their fortunes against an Islanders team that's fallen on hard times recently. The loss Montreal served up was New York's third straight at home.
Before they left Montreal, there was a strong sense that the Canadiens' newly minted leadership group was being put to the test, so it was no surprise that Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty stepped up on Long Island. Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban were right there with them, offering strong performances to help get the team out of its funk, and Carey Price turned in one of his best games of the year.
It was a feel good night for Lars Eller, who managed an assist on Pacioretty's shorthanded goal before popping one into an empty net for insurance late in the third period.
It couldn't have felt good for Torrey Mitchell, who was forced to the sidelines early in the first period, suffering an innocuous injury off a face-off play. He's out with an upper-body injury.
Before the game, Michel Therrien did his usual poking and prodding. He called up Greg Pateryn from Hamilton, threatening Nathan Beaulieu place in the lineup in the process. He told the press not to read too far into Beaulieu practicing as a scratch Friday, and sure enough he pulled Sergei Gonchar from the lineup in his favor.
Therrien chalked up Pateryn's insertion into the mix as a thirst for the physical dynamic he brings, which gives you an inclination that he's eager to get Alexei Emelin back from injury.
Speaking of lineup changes, since the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Canadiens 1-0 at the Bell Centre to start last week, they lost Ondrej Palat, Brayden Coburn and Cedrik Paquette to injury. Nikita Kucherov avoided supplementary discipline after a dirty hit on Jets defenseman Tobias Enstrom saw him ejected from Saturday night's 2-1 loss.
Once again, the Canadiens will retain their position atop the Atlantic division regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, holding a game in hand and a two-point advantage on the Lightning. If they win, they'll move by the Anaheim Ducks to second place overall in the league standings, tying the Rangers in points with 95, having played one more game.
This is the second-to-last meeting between both teams, and Carey Price and Ben Bishop are both expected to start tonight. The final game between them will be played March 30th at the Bell Centre.