Ted Nolan warned them about it. Not that he had to.
His Islanders already knew the dangers of starting slowly in this first game off an extended cross-country road trip in which they played five games in 10 days.
Still, the coach’s words – and his players’ awareness – couldn’t offset the effects of the Isles’ Western swing, as they lost 3-1 to Montreal last night in their return to the Coliseum.
The Islanders played with considerable energy during the second two periods, outshooting the Canadiens 17-13 in that span.
It wasn’t enough to overcome a first period in which the team virtually sleepwalked.
“It wasn’t what we were looking for,” captain Bill Guerin said of a first period in which the Isles were outshot 9-1 and left trailing 1-0.
“It was a bad first period. Good second and good third period. That’s it.”
So after a 2-1-2 trip that enabled the Isles to climb to seventh place in the Eastern Conference, they immediately returned to their inconsistent play.
The loss didn’t come without ample opportunities for the Isles to tie the game. After Richard Park brought them within 2-1 at 10:56 of the third, they found new life, but were unable to capitalize.
Prior to Park’s goal, Mike Sillinger nearly scored, Miro Satan hit the post and Mike Comrie was stuffed by Montreal goaltender Cristobal Huet on a breakaway.
All of that meant that Tomas Plekanec’s two goals were enough to give the Habs the victory. Alex Kovalev sealed it with 27.5 seconds left, scoring an empty-netter off a bad pass from Chris Campoli.
Plekanec took advantage of an Andy Hilbert turnover in the first to score the game’s first goal.
“It went off my shin pads, they got it and went down and scored,” Hilbert said. “Me turning the puck over like that was tough.”
Then they surrendered a short-handed goal to Plekanec – the ninth short-hander the Isles have let up this season, tied with Minnesota for most in the league.
The Isles skated significantly better following that, but those miscues were too much to overcome, especially with Brendan Witt still out with a sprained right ankle – though he is expected to return soon – and fellow defenseman Radek Martinek out with an injured leg.
“We had a successful road trip and tried to keep things going in right direction,” said goalie Rick DiPietro, who made 19 saves. “Tonight was a bit of a letdown.”
One they would have liked to have avoided, since even though the Isles are done with their demanding trip, it doesn’t get much easier for them. They return to action tonight in New Jersey against the Devils.
“We rebounded in the second and third,” Nolan said. “But we have to play 60 minutes to win, and tonight we played about 40.”
Canadiens 3 Islanders 1