MONTREAL — Patrik Laine scored in his highly anticipated debut in Montreal, Nick Suzuki scored in overtime and the Canadiens beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Laine, playing his first regular season game in nearly a year, opened the scoring on a power play 7:23 into the second period.
Suzuki scored at 2:39 of overtime, following his own rebound. Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots.
Anders Lee scored for New York, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves.
Laine missed the first 24 games of the regular season after suffering a sprained left knee in the preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 28.
Laine, acquired by the Canadiens before the season, had not played since December 14 with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
TAKE AWAY
Islanders: The Islanders continued to struggle on the power play, going 0 for 3. New York entered the game with the second-worst power play in the league at 12.9%.
Canadiens: Laine finished with a goal, two shots and two hits in 17 minutes and 27 seconds. He skated on the Canadiens’ second line with Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky and started on Montreal’s top power play unit, which went 1 for 2.
KEY MOMENT
Laine received the puck and had all the time in the world to turn around and pick his spot on Sorokin. He raised his fists as his teammates swarmed him.
KEY STATUS
355 — The number of days since Laine’s last regular season game. Laine scored a goal against the Maple Leafs but broke his collarbone. He then joined the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on January 28 to prioritize his mental health and was cleared to return on July 26, three weeks before his trade to Montreal.
FOLLOWING
The Canadiens host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night and the Islanders return home to face the Seattle Kraken.
