Montreal, Quebec (My Sportsbook) - The New York Islanders hope to halt a five-game losing streak tonight when they visit the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

The slide has shoved the Isles down into the Atlantic Division basement with seven points -- 13 behind first-place Philadelphia. On Monday, Peter Laviolette's club dropped a 4-2 decision to Calgary in the second and last installment of a brief homestand.

Roman Hamrlik and Alexei Yashin scored second-period goals to bring New York back from a 2-0 deficit, but the Flames answered with goals from Chris Drury and rookie Chuck Kobasew in the third. Garth Snow made 17 saves in the losing cause.

Surprisingly, penalty killing didn't pose too much of a problem for the Isles Monday. For the season the club has allowed a league-high 20 power-play goals.

New York, 1-2-1 away from Nassau Coliseum, returns to Uniondale Friday to open a three-game homestand against the Edmonton Oilers. Dallas and Ottawa will also visit during the set.

Montreal, meanwhile, had a four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) snapped in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the red-hot St. Louis Blues. Saku Koivu put the Habs ahead 2-1 nearly five minutes into the second period, but the Blues scored four unanswered tallies from that point forward.

Jan Bulis also scored for Montreal, while goaltender Jose Theodore was touched for five goals on 36 shots after playing very well in a 2-2 tie with Carolina last Saturday. In all, Theodore is 1-4-2 with a bloated 4.07 goals-against average and .861 save-percentage in seven starts to this point.

Tuesday's defeat not only halted the club's undefeated spurt, but it continued its home woes as well. Michel Therrien's troops are 1-3-3 at the Bell Centre, and will play the second installment of a four-game homestand tonight. The set resumes Saturday versus Los Angeles.

Montreal went 2-1-1 against the Islanders last season, and is 4-1-1 in the last six meetings overall. New York has lost in its last three trips to Montreal.