Canadiens put an end to Islanders’ win streak

Tomas Plekanec scored two goals and added two assists to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-4 victory over the previously streaking New York Islanders on Saturday night.

Metropolitan Division-leading New York had won four straight. Tampa Bay jumped over the Islanders for first place in the Eastern Conference by beating Colorado on Saturday.

P.K. Subban, Dale Weise, Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais also scored for Montreal (28-13-3), and Dustin Tokarski made 27 saves.

Kyle Okposo, Nikolay Kulemin, Anders Lee and John Tavares had goals for the Islanders (30-14-1). Former Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak, playing for the second straight night, stopped 27 shots.

Okposo has five goals in two games, including his four-goal outburst in a home win over Pittsburgh on Friday.

After Montreal’s sixth goal, Halak was replaced by Chad Johnson, who faced just two shots.

Plekanec put Montreal ahead 3-1 with five minutes remaining in the second period, and he added his second goal midway through the third to make it 6-2. Plekanec assisted on the Canadiens’ first two goals.

Montreal has won five of six against the Islanders.

Tokarski was in net for Carey Price, who sustained an upper-body injury in Montreal’s victory over the Blue Jackets on Wednesday in Columbus.

Coach Michel Therrien said Price’s injury, sustained when forward Matt Calvert crashed into him, isn’t serious.

The Canadiens recalled goalie Joey MacDonald from Hamilton of the AHL on Friday. The Islanders gave Halak back-to-back starts on consecutive nights for the second time this season.

AP