NEW YORK _ The Islanders are heading in the wrong direction at the worst possible time, getting lost on the road toward the playoffs.
They had claimed just one point while losing the previous four games and were four points from the second wild card at the start of play Friday night when they faced off with Montreal at Barclays Center to close a home-and-home set.
Then they lost again, their fifth straight and second straight to Montreal. Alex Galchenyuk scored a hat trick in the Canadiens' 6-3 win.
It was 3-3 after two. Paul Byron broke the tie from the slot at 8:10 after Jaroslav Halak deflected a wraparound attempt. Noah Juulsen scored his first NHL goal 1:43 later. And Galchenyuk added an empty-netter with 49 seconds left.
Galchenyuk gave the Canadiens 2-1 and 3-2 leads in the second period. He also set up the first goal of the game. But the Islanders tied it each time, first on goal by Tanner Fritz with 5.8 seconds left in the first, then on a goal by Josh Bailey, and then on one by Brock Nelson during a power play with 3.3 seconds left in the second.
It marked the first time the Islanders had ever scored a goal in the final six seconds of two different periods in one game.
