MONTREAL 3, ISLANDERS 0

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Photo Gallery   Game Highlights

Islanders can’t solve Halak in Habs’ shutout

Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves to pick up his third career shutout, helping the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-0 victory over the Islanders, Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Roman Hamrlik scored a second-period power play goal, while Alexei Kovalev and Guillaume Latendresse added even-strength tallies in the third period to give the Canadiens the Northeast Division lead over Ottawa.

"Overall, I was happy with our effort," said head coach Ted Nolan. "Sometimes the pucks just don't go in."

Rick DiPietro kept the Islanders in it for much of the game, making 26 saves in the losing effort.

"I think we controlled the play territorially," said Nolan. "You can only ask the guys for a strong effort. The pucks will eventually bounce our way if we keep up the work ethic."

Montreal took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal. Hamrlik pounced on a rebound at 7:04 of the second period for his fifth goal of the season.

Kovalev scored his team-leading 31st goal of the season at 5:54 of the third period on a 2-on-1 play with Tomas Plekanec for a 2-0 Montreal lead.

Guillaume Latendresse added his 16th goal of the season for a 3-0 Montreal advantage late in third period.

The Islanders return home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tuesday night at the Nassau Coliseum.

Five Stars of the Game:
1. Jaroslav Halak: Recorded his first shutout of the season
2. Roman Hamrlik: Scored Habs’ first power play goal in four games, 6 blocked shots
3. Alexei Kovalev: Has three goals and three assists against the Islanders in four games this season
4. Guillaume Latendresse: Put the game out of reach
5.  Mike Komisarek: Five blocked shots, over 20 minutes of ice time

Slapshots: Bruno Gervais, Andy Hilbert, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brendan Witt and Frans Nielsen were tonight’s scratches…The Islanders didn’t get their first power play until 18:18 of the second period…The Islanders failed to score a power play goal against the Canadiens in four games this season (0-for-14)

ISLANDERS
Goaltenders
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz

Defensemen
6   Matthew Spiller - 24 Radek Martinek
44 Freddy Meyer - 3   Rob Davison
4   Bryan Berard – 2 Aaron Johnson

Forwards
15 Jeff Tambellini – 10 Richard Park - 13 Bill Guerin
7 Trent Hunter – 63 Josef Vasicek - 20 Sean Bergenheim
28 Tim Jackman - 89 Mike Comrie - 57 Blake Comeau
81 Miroslav Satan - 29 Ben Walter – 48 Steve Regier

MONTREAL
Goaltenders
41 Jaroslav Halak
31 Carey Price

Defensemen
44 Roman Hamrlik - 71 Patrice Brisebois
8   Mike Komisarek - 79 Andrei Markov
26 Josh Gorges - 51 Francis Bouillon

Forwards
6   Tom Kostopoulos - 20 Bryan Smolinski - 32 Mark Streit
73 Michael Ryder - 11 Saku Koivu - 84 Guillaume Latendresse
46 Andrei Kostitsyn - 14 Tomas Plekanec - 27 Alexei Kovalev
21 Chris Higgins - 54 Mikhail Grabovski - 74 Sergei Kostitsyn


Check out the Islanders TV Game Day tab for complete coverage tonight’s game.



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