Brendan Gallagher scored to start a first-period flurry Tuesday night by the visiting Montreal Canadiens, who cruised past the New York Islanders in a 6-2 victory in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Jeff Petry and Charles Hudon also scored in the first period, while Paul Byron scored in the second. Jordan Weal and Joel Armia added goals late in the third for the Canadiens, who have won two straight and four of six (4-1-1). Goalie Carey Price made 20 saves.

Brock Nelson and Ryan Pulock scored in the third period for the Islanders, who have lost four straight (0-2-2) and eight of 10 (2-6-2). New York entered Tuesday tied for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots with the idle Columbus Blue Jackets.

Thomas Greiss took the loss after giving up the three first-period goals on 12 shots. Semyon Varlamov recorded 12 saves over the final two periods.

Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk left the game around the midway point of the third period after he was hit in the face by a skate.

The Canadiens chased Greiss by scoring three times on six shots across a span of 5:03, late in the first period. Gallagher opened the scoring with 6:29 left, when he got a stick on Ben Chiarot's shot while battling for position with Boychuk.

Phillip Danault established the screen that allowed Petry to beat Greiss with a shot under his stick just 2:12 later.

Turnovers by the Islanders led to the Canadiens' next two goals. Leo Komarov's pass to Devon Toews glanced off Toews' stick and to Hudon, who beat Greiss with 1:26 remaining in the period for his first goal since Nov. 10, 2018.

Midway through the second, Armia stole the puck from Toews at the blue line in the Islanders' zone and dished to Byron, who bore in on Varlamov and managed to elude the pursuit of Nelson. He backhanded a shot past Varlamov with 8:25 left in the period.

A turnover by Price ended his shutout bid 6:14 into the third. Price tried clearing the puck behind the Canadiens' net, but Josh Bailey stole it and dished to Nelson, who was all alone in front of the empty net.

Weal scored with 4:32 left. Pulock briefly pulled the Islanders within three goals again by scoring on 5-on-3 power play with 3:39 left, but Armia added an empty-netter with 2:50 to go.

--Field Level Media