UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Montreal Canadiens had a plan upon visiting snowy Long Island. They knew the lowly New York Islanders were returning home from a disappointing five-game trip and they knew that goals would be at a premium. The Canadiens made the most of the slimmest of margins and escaped with a 1-0 victory on Saturday night. Max Pacioretty scored 1:51 into the extra period, and Carey Price stopped all 21 shots that came his way in his 21st NHL shutout. Montreal snapped a two-game skid in which the club netted only one goal and gave up a total of eight in losses to Los Angeles and Philadelphia. "We were absolutely more intense," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "We wanted to be physical. We wanted to play a hard-nosed game. This is something we didnt do the last two games, and guys responded well." Pacioretty took a short feed in front from David Desharnais after a New York turnover and shoved a shot past Evgeni Nabokov for his 12th goal. "I was the recipient of a great pass," Pacioretty said. "It felt great to convert it. Weve been fortunate lately, and this was another example." The 38-year-old Nabokov stopped 24 shots and was the hard-luck loser as he came back after missing 11 games because of a groin injury sustained against Detroit on Nov. 16, the last time New York won at home. "The guys did a hell of a job in the D zone, around the net," Nabokov said. It was Prices second shutout this season for the Canadiens, 10-2-1 in their last 13. "That was a really good hard-fought win," Price said. "We played a really solid game from start to finish. We knew it would be low scoring game, and were playing really well, patiently waiting for our chance. "The effort was there all night." Montreal spoiled the NHL debut of prized Islanders prospect Ryan Strome, the No. 5 pick in the 2011 NHL draft. Strome had two shots in just under 15 minutes of ice time. "I felt good out there," the 20-year-old forward said. "Glad to get my feet under me. I felt like we were working hard all game." New York (9-19-6) returned from a 1-4 trip and lost for the 12th time in 13 games (1-9-3). The Islanders are 0-16-4 when they score fewer than three goals. However, they appeared to get a jolt in the third period when Lars Eller levelled New York captain John Tavares as he carried the puck behind his net and back out the right side. Tavares didnt seem to see Eller charge at him, but he wasnt injured. "It was mostly my shoulder. I didnt think it was too bad a hit," Tavares said. Eller was given a minor penalty for illegal contact to the head, but the Islanders anemic power play did nothing with the advantage. Therrien questioned why a penalty was even called. "Of course," he said when asked if the hit was clean. "I was surprised that we were down." The teams played a fairly even first period, with Montreal holding an 11-9 edge in shots, but the Islanders came closer to breaking the scoreless deadlock. Tavares had the best chance when his shot slipped between Prices pads, slid through the crease and struck the right post with 6:45 left. The second period provided little more action than the opening frame, and the teams headed into the final period of regulation still deadlocked. Both teams received their first two power plays of the game, yet did little with them. Montreal entered with the NHLs best power play on the road, connecting 13 times in 48 advantages (27.1 per cent) in 14 games, and the top penalty-killing unit away from home, turning aside 39 of 42 short-handed situations (92.9 per cent). Danny Briere nearly got the Canadiens on the board 6:05 into the second, but he was snuffed on his jam attempts at the left post by Nabokov. The Islanders held a 7-6 shots advantage in the period, closing the overall gap to 17-6 through 40 minutes. There was playful banter within the somewhat sparse crowd of 14,408. Many fans in red Canadiens gear made themselves heard throughout the game with chants of "Lets Go Habs" that were quickly met with boos from the Islanders faithful. NOTES: The Islanders held a pregame moment of silence in memory of those killed last year in a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. ... Canadiens enforcer George Parros didnt return after a punch from Eric Boulton knocked him to his knees during a first-period fight. Parros didnt dress in 13 of the previous 16 games. Therrien said after the game that Parros was OK. ... Tavares and Thomas Vanek had three-game point streaks snapped. USA Soccer Jerseys China . Villa has already confirmed his short-term deal and the Daily Mirror reported early Tuesday that Lampard will join him as both build up match fitness ahead of moves to the new Major League Soccer franchise New York City. Cheap USA Soccer Jerseys . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/ . Toronto FC hosts the three-time Italian league champions in a friendly Aug. 7 at BMO Field, a game that Roma CEO Italo Zanzi said falls within a key part of their pre-season. USA Soccer Store . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Keeping The Captain? Brian Giontas agent Steve Bartlett told La Presse on Tuesday that the Montreal Canadiens want to keep their captain - an unrestricted free agent on July 1 - in the fold, while sources tell the paper that the two sides will start talks this week. USA Soccer Shirts . Gorges is believed to have suffered the injury while blocking a shot with a hand during Montreals win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The Canadiens added to their defensive depth this week by acquiring veteran Mike Weaver from the Florida Panthers.KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Kevin Harvick has a second straight shot at winning from the pole at Kansas Speedway. Harvick was back on top at the 1.5-mile track, posting a track record to help propel him to his second pole of the season. Harvick posted his record 194.658 mph lap Friday in the second round of NASCARs knockout qualifying format. His No. 4 Chevrolet hit 194.252 in the third round to give him two straight poles at Kansas, after he won from the top spot at Octobers race. "It was Freaky Fast today, so just have to put it all together tomorrow night when it counts," Harvick said. Harvick has two wins this season and won from the pole at Darlington. He will lead the field to green Saturday under the lights for the first time in a Sprint Cup race at Kansas. Joey Logano joined Harvick on the front row. Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. His qualifying spins over, Keselowski worked hard defending himself from drivers -- like former champion Jimmie Johnson -- who said he didnt need to race so hard when he was out of contention Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski fell six laps off the pace while his car was repaired from an earlier accident. When he returned to the track, he decided to race hard with the leaders in an attempt to slowly get his laps back and maybe put himself back in position to win. Keselowski eventually spun in the middle of the pack to trigger a 14-car accident that wrecked former champions Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Johnson. "You have to think being six laps down you are not going to get back on the lead lap," Johnson said Friday. "There is an opinion, if you are on the race track you deserve a right to go race regardless how many laps down you are. Im sure that is probably a smaller percentage of people have that opinion. Its very easy when you are caught up in that wreck is to go, Why were you racingg? You are six laps down.ddddddddddddIt just depends on where you are." Keselowski brushed off the barbs from his rivals. "Thats his right," Keselowski said. "We all hold the steering wheel. Theres 43 of us out there and we all hold it a little bit differently and make different decisions. It would be quite lame to watch if we all did the same thing and had the same ideas and personnas. "Id say in most cases, I probably wouldnt have done it. But in that case, I felt like it was the proper thing to do with having the potential to race the 1 car (Jamie McMurray) and get back in sequence. If we got back in sequence, we had enough speed in our car, with yellows, to have a shot at winning the race. I wasnt ready to give up." Kurt Busch was sixth, followed by Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart. Danica Patrick qualified ninth for her second straight top-10 start and Greg Biffle was 10th. Harvick said a little 15-minute pep talk with Patrick may have spurred her to another solid qualifying run. She set a track record on her first lap, though it was topped multiple times during the three rounds. "She just basically needed to quit thinking about it and smash the gas," he said. "Thats what she said. Shes done a great job in trying to take in all the information." Harvick, who jumped from Richard Childress Racing to Stewart-Haas Racing, pulled away from Kurt Busch and Gordon on a late restart to win a wreck-filled race in October at Kansas. "I dont think its going to be like the way it was when they dropped the green flag last fall here," he said. Harvick won his eighth pole in 477 career starts. "It makes life a lot easier when you can have pit stall one," he said. "Hopefully we can have a good night tomorrow night, but the weekend has gone good we had a great test here a few weeks ago and everything has carried right over." ' ' '