Suzuki surpasses 100 points, Canadiens eliminate Islanders from playoff contention

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist to surpass 100 points for the first time in his NHL career, and the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the New York Islanders from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 4-1 win at UBS Arena on Sunday.

Suzuki (29 goals, 72 assists) is the fifth player in the 108-year history of the Canadiens to record at least 100 points in a season, joining Guy Lafleur (six times), Peter Mahovlich (two times), Mats Naslund and Steve Shutt.

“I mean, it's pretty cool,” Suzuki said. “As a little kid, you think of doing things like this, and that's definitely special, especially with this organization. I’m so proud to be part of the group that came before me.”

Alex Newhook and Zachary Bolduc each had a goal and an assist, and Ivan Demidov scored for the Canadiens (48-23-10), who have won five of seven. Lane Hutson had two assists, and Jacob Fowler made 30 saves.

“It seemed like both teams were not getting too much,” Suzuki said. “All of a sudden, we get out to a 3-0 lead, and we are able to hang on. That was definitely a special minute for us … We knew we had to respond better. We knew what their emotional level would be, and I think both teams were playing really strong defensively, not giving up too much. And we were finally able to break through, get some momentum, and get three that fast.”

Defenseman David Reinbacher, who was selected by Montreal with the No. 5 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had an assist and two shots on goal in 11:17 of ice time in his NHL debut after being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League earlier in the day. Reinbacher was in the lineup because defenseman Noah Dobson was injured in a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

“Everybody has a different road, and you just can enjoy every single day,” Reinbacher said. “And at the end of the day, you will get there. It’s just a matter of time. You put your head down and work hard every day. I think that is that today. And now it's time to learn and work hard.”

Montreal is tied in points (106) for first in the Atlantic Division with the idle Buffalo Sabres. If the season ended today, the Sabres would be the No. 1 seed, and the Canadiens would be the No. 2 seed based on tiebreakers.

Casey Cizikas scored the lone goal for the Islanders (43-33-5), who have lost six of seven. Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves.

“It's a disappointing finish to what was going pretty well for quite a while this year,” New York captain Anders Lee said. “We just had some tough losses of late. We needed to get a couple of wins here in the last couple of days, and we fell short of it. So it's just a lot to think about, a lot to wrap our heads around right now, but it just (stinks). We're disappointed in it. We put everything we could into making this happen, to pushing ourselves into the playoffs. We faltered in some moments down the stretch here.”

The Canadiens scored three goals in a 55-second span in the second period to take a three-goal lead.

Suzuki put Montreal up 1-0 at 15:56 of the second when he positioned himself at the top of the crease and tapped in a feed from Juraj Slafkovsky for his 100th point of the season. Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer was given a high-sticking minor during the goal.

On the ensuing power play, Demidov made it 2-0 at 16:24. Suzuki sent a backdoor, cross-ice pass through the crease to Demidov, who buried a snap shot at the right post.

Newhook increased the lead to 3-0 at 16:51 with a snap shot from the right face-off circle that beat Sorokin to the blocker side. Reinbacher had the secondary assist on the goal for his first NHL point.

“I don't think a third game in three nights for a youngster like that is too much,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said of Reinbacher, who had played on Friday and Saturday for Laval. “He's not going to come in and play 25 minutes, you know? So we know that David has poise, and I feel like the more you play in this League, the more poise you are going to have.”

Cizikas cut the deficit to 3-1 at 8:45 of the third period. Scott Mayfield sent a wrist shot from the point through traffic that Cizikas tipped in the slot.

Bolduc swept in a rebound from in front off a shot from Newhook that hit the left post to secure the 4-1 final at 19:45.

The Islanders outshot the Canadiens 17-3 in the third.

“I mean, that was the game, right? It was 55 seconds,” New York coach Pete DeBoer said about the turning point of the game. “I think we had some self-inflicted things there. On their power-play goal, we gave up a 2-on-1, and then we just got on the wrong side, and a little bit of man-on-man there in the defensive zone. But that's what a good team does to you. They expose you. We didn't make a lot of mistakes defensively tonight. I thought we battled pretty hard. When we did, hey, they capitalized. And, on the other side, it's hard to win in this League with one goal. We got to find a way to convert some of the opportunities we're getting into goals, which we really didn't do this weekend at all.” 

NOTES: Suzuki recorded his 29th multipoint game of 2025-26, the most by a Canadiens player in a campaign since Naslund in 1985-86 (31). ... Hutson tied Larry Robinson (66 in 1976-77) for the most assists by a Montreal defenseman in a single season. ... Dobson sustained an upper-body injury in the loss on Saturday and his status will be reevaluated in two weeks. He left the game in the second period after a shot from Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski struck him on the right hand. ... The Islanders have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2016-17 and 2017-18.