MTL@VAN: Quotes of the night

VANCOUVER - The Canadiens' two-game winning streak was snapped on Wednesday night with a 6-5 shootout loss to the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

Following the contest, forwards Tyler Toffoli, Phillip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi met the media, along with head coach Claude Julien.
Here are a few highlights from their Zoom-based Q&A:
Toffoli had a monster game offensively with a hat trick, but the final result left a bitter taste in his mouth:
It's unfortunate. I don't think that was our best game overall as a team. We let them stay in it, gave them a lot of power plays, and obviously their power play is really good. It's a tough loss.

Nevertheless, Toffoli was pleased with the play of his line, which also features Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia - and he was happy to see Kotkaniemi get on the scoresheet with a two-point performance (1 goal, 1 assist) in BC:
KK is a really good player. He's a big body and he's been playing well. He's been getting some good looks. Tonight, it wasn't the hardest shot by any means on his goal, but that's when you know you're due for one. I'm happy for him, and Army's also making really good plays and creating space for us.

Danault, meanwhile, commented on the fact that the Canadiens found themselves in penalty trouble again and Vancouver capitalized with three power play goals:
We have to be careful when it comes to taking penalties. We emphasized that in our game plan, just like when we prepared for the games in Edmonton. The Canadian teams all have excellent power plays. We're playing the same teams again and again, so we'll adapt.

Despite the loss, the Canadiens did show some serious character, according to Danault, rallying from four deficits:
There were a lot of ups and downs in the game. That's the positive aspect that we can take from this. We fought back. We never gave up. We were opportunistic when it came to scoring big goals.

For his part, Kotkaniemi was satisfied with his offensive output. He believes it will be more consistent in short order:
I think it's a timing thing. We didn't really have any preseason games with the team. We also have a couple of new guys, so it always takes time to get used to playing with them. I think with our line we're getting there day by day.

The 20-year-old Finn also commented on the outstanding play of Nick Suzuki, who continues to impress game after game:
He's a really great player. When he's on the ice, he only does the right things. When he's got the puck, he's so calm with it. It's just really great to follow him.

As for Julien, the veteran bench boss offered up this assessment of his team's performance:
It wasn't our best performance tonight. These things happen. It's the start of the season. We definitely have to fix certain things. Firstly, we have to be more disciplined. We're taking too many penalties. We did play better hockey as the game went on, though. We were skating a lot better in the third period. We'll take the positives from tonight, but we'll have to be a lot more disciplined on Thursday and have a better start.

Coming away with one point, though, is always a good thing:
I'm far from satisfied with our game. We're capable of playing a lot better than that. You have highs and lows in a season. We managed to get a point out of it, even if we didn't play our best hockey. We hope that point will be important at the end of the year.