Jonathan Drouin scored once and added an assist and goalie Antti Niemi made 27 saves as the Montreal Canadiens scored three unanswered goals to beat the New York Islanders 3-1 in NHL action Wednesday night in Montreal.

Drouin, who has had a middling season in Montreal after being acquired last summer from the Tampa Bay Lightning, broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal at the 8:29 mark of the second period at the Bell Centre. Drouin was manning the left point when he received the puck and worked his way down to the face-off dot before slapping a shot past New York Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak for his 10th goal of the season. Drouin also set up his team's first goal on a night the Canadiens snapped a two-game losing skid.

Nikita Scherbak made it a 3-1 Montreal lead at 13:37 of the middle frame. Scherbak was heading to the net following his team's rush down the ice and made no mistake with his quick shot to finish a bang-bang play with Brendan Gallagher for his second goal of the season.

Niemi had a strong game between the pipes while Montreal's star goalie Carey Price is on the shelf due to a concussion. Niemi was key early, especially while stopping three first-period breakaways, even if New York hit the scoreboard first.

Islanders rookie Mathew Barzal opened the scoring at the 3:50 mark of the first period. The speedster zipped around Noah Juulsen to give himself a breakaway from the top of the circles and lifted a backhand shot past Niemi for his 18th goal of the season. Barzal has collected two goals and five points in a three-game spree.

However, Montreal's Paul Byron got that one back at the 11:02 mark of the opening frame. While the Canadiens were buzzing in the offensive zone, Byron found a soft spot in the slot and ripped a shot past Halak after receiving the feed from Artturi Lehkonen.

Halak stopped 23 shots for the Islanders, who sit third in the race for the Eastern Conference's two wild-card spots but are suddenly floundering having lost four straight and with just two wins in their last eight outings (2-5-1).

--Field Level Media