MONTREAL — So far, this is the season of one step forward and two steps back for the Islanders.
Even though the team’s current goal of treading water until getting healthy is as modest as it gets, stacking a couple wins is still necessary to get back to NHL-.500 — and it is something the Islanders have struggled to do again and again.
There are no easy games, so goes the cliche, but Tuesday night against the Canadiens, who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, was about as good a chance as the Islanders could have asked for to build on Saturday’s win over Buffalo.
Instead, they’re flying home as 2-1 losers on Nick Suziki’s overtime winner after another lackluster third period, though at least this one wasn’t a blown lead.
The defense-first, forecheck-heavy and low-event hockey that the Islanders have started playing regularly of late might be a necessity with Mat Barzal and Anthony Duclair, two of their best offensive players, amongst the injured.
But it has sometimes left them looking like a team without many ideas for how to score, and Tuesday fell into that category.
It didn’t help matters that Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault put on a show in front of the biggest Habs goaltending legend of all, Patrick Roy.
With the Islanders looking for a goal on a second-period power play, Montembeault stoned Brock Nelson on consecutive chances in tight.
He then dove to make a save on Max Tsyplakov and somehow snared the rebound from Jean-Gabriel Pageau. All that was missing was a wink to the camera.