The New York Islanders have simply not been consistent this season. Their inconsistency cost them another game tonight, as they lost 3-1 to Tomas Plekanec and the Montreal Canadiens. The Islanders fall to 22-18 remaining at 4th place in the Atlantic Standings. The Canadiens improve to 23-14, and are in 2nd place in the Northeast standings.

The first star of the game tonight was Tomas Plekanec, who scored 2 goals. Montreal Canadien Alex Kovalev scored an empty net goal late in the third to seal the game. The only Islanders goal was scored by Richard Park, who only had 13 minutes of ice time. The only assists of the game went to Kovalev and Islanders center Bill Guerin. Miroslav Satan returned for the Islanders after his knee injury.

Tonight the Islanders got only 19 shots on goal, 18 of which were blocked by goalie Cristobal Huet, who, with this victory, improves to 13-7-5. Rick DiPietro continues to improve from his injuries, only letting in 2 goals tonight. DiPietro let in 19 out of 21 goals.

“We didn’t give them any chances—defensively, we played a lot better,” said Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek. “Our intensity was good and we made good decisions. We were well-prepared and we executed very well.”