Recap: Canadiens - 5, Islanders - 3

The Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 5-3 tonight from the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Islanders are now winless in their last three as they fall to 9-13-6 for the season.

Might as well start with Al Montoya tonight, who for the first time all year impacted the game negatively for the Islanders. The first two goals were soft, to say the least, and while Montoya kept the Isles in the game through the second period and some of the third, he allowed a seemingly stoppable shot to Petteri Nokelainen to give the Habs the lead and win. Whether the fourth goal was soft or not, it's one that the Islanders needed their goaltender to stop at that juncture of the game. Montoya has now allowed 10 goals over his last two games, which may mean it's time for him to take a rest for 2-3 games. But even then, he'll need to go on a long run of games as the Islanders will need to see if he is a long term starting goaltender or not.

The Islanders battled hard in this game, coming back from a 3-1 deficit with goals from Josh Bailey and John Tavares, which was a promising sign. Bailey has been doing all of the little things while incorporating creativity with his stickhandling, and the results are showing. It's too early to say that Bailey is breaking out, but the signs are there. He is definitely a player to watch over the next quarter of the season. Tavares, who was due for a goal, used hard work and determination at the end of a long shift to get his goal. It was a big goal at the time, and has Tavares on pace for just about 30 goals.

Travis Hamonic has really stepped his game up in all aspects. He really is the whole package, and is someone the Islanders will need to keep around for a long period of time. There is no reason he shouldn't be at least a legitimate #2 defenseman, with the potential ceiling of a #1 guy if he develops at this pace. On the contrary, what has happened to Mark Streit? Clearly he is rusty, but his lethargy and lack of urgency is way more alarming than his physical mistakes. Streit, who is the captain of this team, needs to get his stuff together for this team to be successful.

At this point, it's really hard to justify Brian Rolston playing anything other than even strength. He is brutally bad on the powerplay, and does not have enough hockey sense to play on the penalty kill. That said, his pass to Josh Bailey on the Islanders second goal was a thing of beauty.

The Islanders fourth line of Matt Martin, Marty Reasoner, and Tim Wallace continues to very consistent out there. It's nice to have a dependable fourth line.

The Isles come home Thursday to face the Dallas Stars in a re-match of a 5-4 Isles victory about a week and a half ago. The Islanders will need to have a strong end of the week, or else you can start getting the hammer out to put that proverbial nail in the coffin.