The New York Islanders, who have been very good on the second half of back-to-backs under Barry Trotz, went into Montreal with high hopes of another sweep.
But they either didn’t heed Trotz’s warning that the winless-in-eight Canadiens were dangerous, or they just didn’t have it. The Islanders were consistently outplayed, other than a late push in the third period that made things interesting.
Somehow, despite trailing 3-0 early in the third period and looking like little threat to change things, the Islanders had two minutes with a sixth attacker and the score at 3-2 late in the third.