MONTREAL (AP) -- The Montreal Canadiens took full advantage of some extra room on the ice to set up a key goal.

Linden broke a 2-2 tie with his 11th goal when he took Eric Weinrich's pass and fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle over Islanders goalie John Vanbiesbrouck's right shoulder 5:08 into the second period.

"They got a little stretched out, a little separated," Linden said. "Eric made a smart play to me. It's nice when you hit your spot."

Poulin gave the Canadiens their second two-goal lead of the game at 17:24 when he broke down the left wing and beat Vanbiesbrouck with a low shot between the legs.

Montreal rookie Eric Chouinard nearly made it a three-goal lead early in the third. His wrist shot struck the post to Vanbiesbrouck's right before Roman Hamrlik scored his 10th of the season with 13:35 left to draw New York within one.

Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore stopped 33 shots, including a big save on Mariusz Czerkawski's shot from in close later in the period to preserve the lead. He held off a flurry of Islanders shots with less than a minute left before Chad Kilger put the game away with his 11th of the season into an empty net with five seconds remaining.

New York held a 36-17 edge in shots, including a 12-3 margin in the third.

"We didn't play as well as we could have, or should have," Linden said. "They played pretty well and without a good performance from Jose we might have been in trouble. We kind of left it hanging in the balance and he saved our butts."

Montreal also caught a break with 2.8 seconds left in the second when referee Kelly Sutherland whistled to stop play before Claude Lapointe tapped in a loose puck in the crease.

"The referee made a mistake," Lapointe said. "He admitted that he blew the whistle too quick. That probably would have changed the game. ... But hey, we all make mistakes."

Lapointe scored one of the four goals in the first period, finally beating Theodore on his third breakaway of the period as the Islanders erased a two-goal deficit.

Weinrich and Craig Darby scored 2:24 apart in the first period to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.

Brad Isbister scored a short-handed goal to draw the Islanders within one and Lapointe scored his fifth tie it.

"The guys came out pretty strong, scoring two big goals, but after that we kind of sat back a little bit and it cost us our lead," Theodore said. "But overall, we got the big breaks and the big goals and we're just happy with the win."

Montreal's Martin Rucinsky played for the first time since Dec. 18. Rucinsky, who assisted on Weinrich's goal, missed 21 games with a knee injury.

Game notes
Islanders center Oleg Kvasha left with a left knee injury after he was upended by Kilger in the second period. ... Rookie Rick DiPietro replaced Vanbiesbrouck for a faceoff in the Canadiens' zone following Lapointe's disallowed goal. Vanbiesbrouck returned for the third. ... Montreal still has seven players out of the lineup due to injury. ... The Canadiens recalled defenseman Mathieu Descoteaux from Quebec City of the AHL earlier in the day. Descoteaux, who has yet to play in the NHL, did not dress for the game.

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