Monahan, Canadiens defeat Islanders, spoil Roy return to Montreal

Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri scored power-play goals for New York (20-17-11), which came back to tie it after falling behind 3-0 in the first period. Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves in his first start since he sustained a lower-body injury Jan. 2 and was forced to leave during the first period of a 5-4 overtime loss against the Colorado Avalanche.

Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson assisted on all three power-play goals.

“He’s a legend here, so very well deserving,” Dobson said. “It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to come away with the win for the team and him.”

The Islanders tied it with two goals on a major power play. Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher was assessed a match penalty for elbowing Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech in the head on an open-ice hit at 11:52 of the third. Pelech was attended to on the ice before he skated off with an Islanders trainer and went to the dressing room.

Barzal cut the lead to 3-2 at 14:52 with a shot over Montembeault’s left shoulder from a sharp angle for New York’s second power-play goal.

Palmieri tied it 3-3 at 16:28 when he scored from the left side of the net on a shot from the point by Dobson that was redirected.

Monahan scored from the high slot off a feed from Josh Anderson to make it 4-3.

“It was really emotional,” Montembeault said. “I was really happy that he got that goal, obviously it’s a huge goal for us.”

Suzuki’s power-play goal at 7:06 of the first period put the Canadiens up 1-0, finishing off a crisp passing play with Monahan and Juraj Slafkovsky from the goalmouth.

Cole Caufield made it 2-0 at 11:36 when he blew around Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc in front of the net and tucked a shot past Varlamov glove side.

Monahan pushed it to 3-0 with Montreal’s second power-play goal at 12:19.

“Our best players were our best players in the first,” Montembeault said. “So … Suzuki, Cole and (Mike) Matheson, they got us going.”