The Islanders almost spoiled the last party of 2023 at the Bell Centre.
Josh Anderson scored two goals during a four-goal Canadian surge in the second period and the Montreal club almost squandered its lead before finally beating the New York club 5-3 on Saturday night.
These were Anderson’s second and third goals of the season, but his first against a goalkeeper. He had only previously scored in an empty net, last December 4 against the Seattle Kraken.
Anderson received a huge ovation when he took the ice as the first star of the game.
“Their support in the last few games has been extraordinary,” said Anderson. It’s an evening that I will always remember. I admit I was overcome with emotion a bit. It was really special.
“I know the fans haven’t had it easy in recent seasons, but they are patient and continue to support us and we notice that,” he added.
The Canadian barely held on to his 4-0 lead in the third period to end his 2023 home schedule on a good note.
“As we continue to grow, we will find ourselves in these situations more often and we will learn to play against a team that becomes less predictable due to the score,” explained head coach Martin St-Louis. You have to send the puck to the back of their zone, run out the time. We will continue to learn. »
Joel Armia, Cole Caufield and Christian Dvorak, in an empty net, also scored for the Canadian (13-13-4). Justin Barron, Sean Monahan and Nick Suzuki each had two assists and Samuel Montembeault made 31 saves.
For the Islanders (14-8-8), Brock Nelson scored twice and Bo Horvat also scored. Noah Dobson had three assists and Varlamov stopped 36 shots.
Forward Jake Evans was in the Canadian squad after missing the team’s practices over the past two days.
The Canadian will play three times abroad next week, before his Christmas break. He will visit the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
A stressful ending
The Canadian spent a lot of time in the offensive zone in the first period, but the Islanders did a good job protecting the slot and the front of the net.
Varlamov got lucky just over 13 minutes into the game, when Brendan Gallagher deflected Johnathan Kovacevic’s shot against the post. On the return, the puck was stopped by the skate of Alexander Romanov, then Varlamov dove to frustrate Dvorak.
The Habs took control of the match during the second period.
Armia opened the scoring at 7:45, taking advantage of a good effort from Gallagher before beating Varlamov to the glove side.
Anderson then scored at 10:35. He was hit in the slot by a shot from Barron, then beat Varlamov with a spinning shot.
The 29-year-old Ontarian pointed at Evans, who was in front of the net, thinking he may have deflected the puck. Evans quickly pointed to Anderson to confirm that he would be credited with the goal.
“I didn’t see the puck go in the goal and I thought he brushed it,” Anderson said. I would have been happy no matter who the goal was given to.
“A goal is a goal. But it was a nice relief,” he added.
The power forward returned to the attack with 52.4 seconds left in the period. Anderson ignored defenseman Mike Reilly’s coverage and rushed to the net to beat Varlamov.
Caufield then made it 4-0 in favor of the Canadian with 37.9 seconds remaining. Juraj Slafkovsky made Romanov lose control of the puck behind his net. Suzuki quickly joined Caufield in the slot and the American forward scored with a one-timer.
Nelson revived the Islanders when he took advantage of the Canadian’s laxity to score shorthanded after 2:07 of play in the third period.
He came back to charge 1:36 later, on a nice crossfield pass from Dobson.
St-Louis called a timeout to slow the Islanders’ momentum and the Canadian settled back for a while.
“We haven’t had this kind of big lead in a while,” Suzuki said. You can’t become too confident. We talked about it during intermission, but we came out flat. »
Horvat finally reduced the gap to a single goal with 5:54 remaining on the clock, scoring on a rebound after a Dobson throw.
The Canadian managed to close the door on the Islanders at the end of the game. Dvorak confirmed the result by scoring into an empty net with 19.3 seconds remaining.