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MONTREAL 3, ISLANDERS 2, OT

Sep 22, 2007 | By Jason Lockhart

A young Islanders squad consisting of only a handful of veterans pushed the more experienced Montreal Canadiens team to the limit before dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime, Friday night at the Bell Centre. The Islanders out shot the Canadiens 24-21.

A packed house at the Bell Centre made it feel more like a playoff game than an exhibition game, with the crowd celebrating loudest when Matt D'Agostini picked up a loose puck in the slot and lifted it over Mike Morrison for the win, 1:45 into overtime. D'Agostini finished with two goals on the evening. The Islanders have earned points in three of four exhibition games, sporting a record of 1-1-2.

"I was impressed with the play of some of our young guys, especially Comeau and Walter," said head coach Ted Nolan. "Walter was particularly smart with the puck."

Jeff Tambellini and Radek Martinek each scored a goal, while Josef Vasicek added two assists. Wade Dubielewicz stopped nine of ten shots in a period and a half of work, while Morrison turned aside nine of 11. Carey Price earned the victory with 22 saves.

"It was here that Martinek got hurt last year," said Nolan. "But he came back and scored a goal. Time heals all."

Montreal took a 1-0 lead at 6:53 of the first period. Latendresse found D'Agostini, who was stationed right in front of Wade Dubielewicz for a tap-in goal and his first of the game.

Tambellini made it a 1-1 game on some pretty passing between Chris Campoli and Vasicek. Campoli gave the puck to Vasicek at center ice along the boards and then headed to the net. Vasicek returned the puck to Campoli, who had his backhander stopped, but Tambellini poked home the loose puck at 4:05 of the second period.

The Canadiens went up 2-1 with a delayed penalty in effect. With 5:33 left in the second period, Francis Bouillon slipped a pass over to Latendresse on a 2-on-1 break for a bang-bang play past Morrison, who replaced Dubielewicz midway through the second period.

Radek Martinek evened the game at two, while skating 4-on-4, with a wrist shot low to the stick side with only 5:57 left in the third period. Defenseman Aaron Johnson and Vasicek picked up the assists.

Despite not putting up any points, the Islanders' most dominant line was made up of young guns Sean Bergenheim, Blake Comeau and Sean Bentivoglio. The three of them sustained pressure in the offensive zone for many of their shifts and generated a multitude of scoring chances.

Thoughts from Chief European Scout Vellu Kautonen

After the second period:
"Jeremy Colliton and Ben Walter are two of the younger guys, who were definitely better this period. Tambellini continued to play well, scoring a goal. For the veterans, Jon Sim has been working hard and looking good out there."

After one period:
"Bergenheim stood out for me in that period. He had some jump, and had a big hit in the corner. Jamie Fraser had a good showing on the power play. Besides hitting a post, he showed poise with the puck. Tambellini, as always, had an energized period, which always helps the team."

Slapshots: Chris Simon, Bruno Gervais and Jon Sim were tonight’s alternate captains…Earlier today, Robin Figren (Edmonton – WHL), Tomas Marcinko (Barrie – OHL), Max Gratchev (Rimouski – QMJHL), Simon Lacroix (Shawinigan – QMJHL) and Mark Katic (Sarnia – OHL) were re-assigned to their respective Canadian Junior clubs. "Each of these kids had a good camp," said assistant general manager/Director of amateur scouting Ryan Jankowski. "Hopefully, they’ll take what they’ve learned from this experience to have a good start to their seasons in junior."…Jeff Tambellini earned the third star of the game…Class Act Dep’t: As Ted Nolan passed by the celebrating Canadiens before leaving the ice surface, Guillaume Latendresse turned to the Islanders head coach and shook his hand before re-joining his team.

ISLANDERS
Goaltenders
34 Wade Dubielewicz
33 Mike Morrison

Defense
14 Chris Campoli - 47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
2 Aaron Johnson - 24 Radek Martinek
62 Jamie Fraser - 8 Bruno Gervais

Forwards
15 Jeff Tambellini - 63 Josef Vasicek - 16 Jon Sim
12 Chris Simon - 27 Darryl Bootland - 11 Andy Hilbert
20 Sean Bergenheim - 57 Blake Comeau - 67 Sean Bentivoglio
54 Gordie Dwyer - 29 Ben Walter - 72 Jeremy Colliton

MONTREAL
Goaltenders
31 Carey Price
75 Yann Danis

Defense
44 Roman Hamrlik – 3 Ryan O'Byrne
79 Andrei Markov - 26 Josh Gorges
51 Francis Bouillon – 25 Mathieu Dandenault

Forwards
74 Sergei Kostitstyn – 11 Saku Koivu – 74 Michael Ryder
84 Guillaume Latendresse – 14 Tomas Plekanec – 36 Matt D'agostini
22 Steve Begin – 80 Benjamin Maxwell – 6 Tom Kostopoulos
57 Garth Murray – 40 Maxim Lapierre – 54 Ryan White