MONTREAL (AP) Antti Niemi and Charlie Lindgren are giving the Montreal Canadiens solid goaltending with starter Carey Price out with a concussion.Niemi made 27 saves Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys , three on short-handed breakaways in the first period, in Montreal’s 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night. That followed AHL call-up Charlie Lindgren’s 33-save effort in a 1-0 shootout loss to Philadelphia on Monday night.”I felt overall really good in practice and games for the last little while now and I’ll try to keep it going,” Niemi said.He’s 4-1-1 in his last six starts.Price, a Vezina and Hart trophy winner and 2014 Olympic gold medalist, has been out since taking a shot on the mask in a 3-2 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Feb. 20. Niemi and Lindgren have gone 2-0-2 in his absence, allowing only six goals between them.Canadiens coach Claude Julien said Price will not accompany the team for the rematch in New York on Friday night.Paul Bryon, Jonathan Drouin and Nikita Scherbak scored to help the Canadiens extend their points streak to five games (2-0-3).Mathew Barzal scored his 18th of the season for the Islanders. They are winless in last four games and 4-8-2 in their last 14.It was wide open in the first period www.officialbluejackets.com , with the teams trading chances and each coming up with a goal. The highlight was the Islanders getting three breakaways while killing a penalty, although they failed to score on them.Barzal took a pass at the Montreal blue line, blew past rookie defenseman Noah Juulsen and beat Niemi with a deke to the backhand at 3:50. Bryan tied it with 8:58 left in the period, beating Jaroslav Halak to the top corner off an assist from Drouin.Drouin gave the Canadiens the lead on a power play at 8:29 of the second. He moved into the left circle to take a feed from Jeff Petry and put a shot inside the far post.”I need to be better for the guys right now,” Halak said. ”We need every point. That second goal shouldn’t go in. We had some chances on our side, we just didn’t hit the net or they blocked shots. We need to find a way. It starts with me.”Scherbak scored with 6:23 to go in the period.NOTES: Newly acquired defenseman Mike Reilly made his Canadiens debut. … The Islanders used their two trade deadline acquisitions – defenseman Brandon Davidson and forward Chris Wagner.UP NEXT:The teams meet again Friday night in Brooklyn. Hopefully for the Vegas Golden Knights, Christmas was a time to help them overcome their frustration of yet another overtime loss heading into their mini-holiday break.A 4-3 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Sunday was their second consecutive loss in the extra period in successive days (Montreal beat them in OT on Saturday in Las Vegas). It was the third time the Knights (20-15-4) had allowed an overtime goal in their last six outings.They had three days without practice since Sunday heading into Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche (19-12-6) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Avalanche also enter the game looking for answers with consecutive losses and a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games.Article continues below ...Frustrated Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury smashed his stick on the post and angrily skated off the T-Mobile Arena ice after surrendering an overtime goal to the Kings’ Tyler Toffoli on a breakaway Sunday.“I want to make a difference Columbus Blue Jackets T-Shirts Authentic ,” Fleury said. “I want to give our team a chance to win these games. I haven’t and it’s been pissing me off.“That last one, one-on-one with me, I should have made a save and gave us a chance to stay in the game. It’s two in a row now with both games being overtime losses. I’ve got to be better.”Defenseman Nate Schmidt’s decision to leave toward the bench for a substitute allowed Toffoli to take a long pass from Oscar Fantenberg just before crossing the blue line, triggering the decisive breakaway.Shea Theodore hopped over the boards in place of Schmidt and gave chase, but it proved futile.“It was a stupid change,” a dejected Schmidt said as he sat in front of his stall. “Stupid of me. It was dumb. I feel bad for (Fleury) and the guys.”Sunday’s loss also dropped the Knights to 3-3 in overtime games this season and 1-3 in the last four. They have also split two shootouts.“I think a lot of it is just mental,” forward Reilly Smith said. “It’s a pretty simple game when its 3-on-3 Columbus Blue Jackets Hoodies Authentic , a lot of man-on-man and just making sure you stay in front of your guy.“It seems like we have been slipping assignments a little bit and they have cost us. Those are big points to lose, especially before Christmas. We wanted to win these last two and have a good end before this little break.”Colorado had a much-needed break after losing 6-4 at Arizona on Saturday. The Avalanche had played six times in the previous nine days.The game in Vegas begins a stretch of playing five games in nine days, including four in a row at the Pepsi Center in Denver.The Avalanche rallied for three goals in the third period to tie the score against the Coyotes only to allow a goal with 3:39 left and then an empty-netter with 12 seconds remaining.Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals, and Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado.Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on 16 shots and was replaced in the second period by Czech Pavel Francouz, who made 21 saves in his NHL debut.“We have to learn how to bring that every single night, right from the drop of the puck,” Landeskog said. “We were a little bit sluggish and didn’t execute in the first two periods Columbus Blue Jackets Hats Authentic , but the way we played in the third, that’s the way we’ve got to bring it every night.”