Game Preview: NY Islanders travel north of the border to take on the Montreal Canadiens

The NY Islanders look to make it points in three consecutive games when they take on the Montreal Canadiens tonight at the Bell Centre. The Isles enter the night three points out of playoff position while the Habs sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 19 points.

LAST GAME

Perhaps the most complete game the Islanders have played this season, a 3-0 shutout victory against the Buffalo Sabres. The shutout was the first for Ilya Sorokin in over a year, as they managed to hold onto a third period lead. Simon Holmstrom,m recorded his second multi-goal game in a row, playing on the top line alongside Bo Horvat and Anders Lee.

The Habs fell to the Boston Bruins 6-3 on Sunday, falling behind by four goals early into the second period before scraping out a couple of goals of their own. Cole Caufield recorded his 15th and 16th goals of the season, third most among all players this season.

HISTORICAL MATCHUP

The Isles and Habs met earlier this season with the Isles emerging victorious in what seemed to be a never-ending shootout. Horvat and Kyle Palmieri put the Isles out to a two-goal lead in the first before allowing a power play goal to Caufield with four seconds remaining in the period.

The Isles took a lead off a Lee goal with just over four minutes remaining in the game, before Caufield's second of the night knotted things up just 2:26 later.

Each team had nine attempts in the shootout, with Noah Dobson scoring the deciding goal before a Semyon Varlamov save on Logan Mailloux

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Holmstrom has been the hottest Islander and will remain on the top line whether or not JG Pageau returns to the lineup tonight. Patrick Roy has been impressed with the young Swedes play of late, and is rewarding him with more minutes.

Patrik Laine will make his season and Canadiens debut tonight, returning from a lower-body injury sustained during pre-season which has caused him to miss every game to this point.