Isles drop second game in a week to Canadiens

The Islanders' 3-1 loss to the Canadiens at Nassau Coliseum Friday night was a far cry from Wednesday's dud in Montreal. They recovered from a poor start to dominate the streaking Canadiens for the final two periods, but their inability to finish resulted in their third straight loss.

"I don't think the score reflects the end result,'' coach Scott Gordon said. "It's a very unique situation where you spend that much time in the offensive zone in the second two periods and not come away with a win.''

"It's disappointing," said Matt Martin, who scored his first NHL goal. "Sometimes you lose games you think you should win.''

In the first period, the Islanders did little to test backup goaltender Alex Auld, making his first start of the season. They didn't register their second shot on goal until 8:32 into play.

Tomas Plekanec banked in Mike Cammalleri's blocked shot for a power-play goal at 2:42 to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead, but the Islanders were revived by Martin, who was called up from Bridgeport on Tuesday.

Midway through the first period, Martin's crushing low hit on hulking Hal Gill administered a jolt to the team. The hit was one of eight by Martin, who also fought the 6-7 defenseman. "That's why they brought me here,'' Martin said of his physical play. "That's my job and that's what I've got to do to stick.''

Martin tied the score at 16:45 of the second, burying a nice feed from Frans Nielsen. "It felt great,'' he said. "I didn't get one last year and it kind of weighs on your head. Frans Nielsen made a great pass and I could've probably put that one in a million times over.''

But Montreal retook the lead at 7:19 of the third as Jeff Halpern dished to the trailing Benoit Pouliot, who made it 2-1. Travis Moen added a goal at 18:11.

"We created turnovers and controlled most of the play in the offensive end," said goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who made 23 saves in his second consecutive start. "Unfortunately, [Auld] played a great game and gave his guys a chance to win.''

The Islanders dominated the second period, limiting the Candiens to four shots. John Tavares drew two interference penalties within 17 seconds to give the Islanders 1:43 of five-on-three time, but they couldn't pull even.

After scoring a power-play goal in six straight games, the Islanders went 0-for-6 with the man advantage. The Canadiens, who won their fourth in a row, have yet to surrender a power-play goal on the road this season.

"We did have chances,'' Tavares said. "We had a few shots, but any time you get a five-on-three, you've got to make those count."