Game preview and how to watch

Game 69: Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Islanders

Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Islanders region: MSGSN
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+

The Columbus Blue Jackets were the latest team to beat up the New York Rangers when they played on Thursday, improving their post-Olympics record to 7-1-4. At the same time, the New York Islanders saw what they were expecting to be another chance to show off their overtime prowess suddenly turn into a regulation loss when Brady Tkachuk scored the winning goal with 13 seconds left on the clock.

Those results tied the two teams on 83 points, but the Blue Jackets took over the third seed in the Metropolitan Division by needing one less game to get to that total. It’s hard to see the Blue Jackets relinquishing that spot without a drop in the level they’ve been playing at since Rick Bowness took over as head coach a couple of months ago, so the Islanders’ best chance might be to pass the Pittsburgh Penguins, who sit one point ahead.

It’s a similar situation for the Montreal Canadiens, though they’re the one using a games-played advantage to hold the third seed in the Atlantic Division. The Habs had been winning the important games, a regulation win versus the Ottawa Senators and an overtime victory over the Boston Bruins, but they lost a big one on Thursday in Detroit that set up a three-way tie for third.

There are currently nine teams in the Eastern Conference on pace to hit 98 points, and only eight spots for them all to qualify for the playoffs. Only the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes can feel comfortable with their positions atop each division; the other seven teams are in for a fight over the final three-and-a-half weeks of the season, and the Senators and Philadelphia Flyers could increase that pool to nine clubs.

Montreal has no more head-to-head games versus the Atlantic teams its fighting with, but does have two versus each of the Blue Jackets and Islanders to directly helps its case in a potential wild-card battle. They welcome the Islanders to the Bell Centre tonight with two big points on the line.

Tale of the Tape

It’s most likely going to be three points handed out, actually. The clubs went to overtime the first time they met this season, and have needed extra time the last five times they’ve played one another. Montreal’s biggest win this week came in overtime versus the Bruins in their 15th decision in three-on-three this year, going 10-5 in that time. The Islanders have had 10 games decided in overtime, and all 10 have ended with them scoring the goal. Since the Olympic break, they’ve added four of those extra-time results to their season record, including the one versus Montreal and another versus Columbus two days later. The Senators clearly had the right idea to avoid going beyond 60 minutes, and the Islanders OT performance combined with Montreal’s own hopelessness in the shootout — they’re 2-5 in the breakaway contest this season — should inspire Montreal to do everything it can to win in regulation.

To do that the defence needs to be strong, though that has really only been an issue versus the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. Removing the four games of those two season series completed in the past few weeks, the Canadiens haven’t allowed more than three goals in regulation since January 24 versus Boston.

Just as concerning an issue is Montreal’s sudden difficulty scoring goals. They were netting four regularly in the opening three-quarters of the season, but have now gone six games without achieving that, with a 3-3 record over that span. It’s not from failing to get chances as they are regularly generating 20 or more of those on a nightly basis and have seen their best stretch of creating high-danger opportunities over this run, including 32 in the past two games alone. An inability to hit an open net from Jake Evans just before the Red Wings broke the tie instead late in the third period ended up being a four-point miss.

Those six games happen to coincide with Juraj Slafkovský’s joining the line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Oliver Kapanen has just one point since that switch was made, turning what had been a dangerous top six into one line of consistent offence. Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook have been able to contribute four and three points, respectively over this stretch, but there hasn’t been much help from elsewhere in the lineup. As tough as the defensive bobbles that cost Montreal the game in Detroit were, few teams are going to win when they only solve a goaltender one time. The Habs will need to do a better job of pouncing on the opportunities they’ve been creating to help them through this continuing difficult schedule.