Montreal is among the NHL's highest-scoring teams this season, ranked eighth league-wide, but continued hot streaks from Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi were not enough to propel the Canadiens past the Devils on Wednesday, falling 5-2 in New Jersey.
"We have to give them credit, they came out hard and put a lot of pressure on us," admitted Xavier Ouellet, as Montreal was outshot 22-14 heading into the third. "Still, we need to execute better as a group and find a way to tighten up on defense."
Wednesday's game marked the eighth time in 11 games this month that the Habs have allowed four goals or more.
"Our backend had a tough night, there's no doubt about that, but at the end of the day there are a lot of things our forwards can do on the defensive side of things, too. We need to be better in those situations as a team, not just as defensemen," acknowledged head coach Claude Julien, who saw his squad allow five goals in back-to-back games. "I think from our defensemen, we need a bit more in terms of winning battles and killing plays and making sure the kinds of situations that happened tonight [don't repeat themselves]."
Indeed, the Habs found themselves in a tough situation after 40 minutes of play in the Garden State, following a three-goal middle frame which put the team behind 5-1.
"It's not fun to be a part of. You want to win hockey games, and you definitely don't want to get blown out, or be going into the third period down by four goals," admitted Brendan Gallagher, who was held off the scoresheet at the Prudential Center, despite firing three shots on goal. "We were fine in the third, but the game was pretty much done [by then], so it's disappointing. We've got to regroup and get better."
Domi cut the Devils' lead to 5-2 with 9:08 remaining in the third period, extending his point streak to 11 games -- a feat last achieved by Pierre Turgeon in 1995 -- but that was as close as it would get.
"We've played 11 games in 21 days, and I'm sensing some fatigue. Mentally, that's where you've got to stay sharp and maybe keep your game a little simpler if you're going to get through those kinds of situations, because that's the way the League is," continued Julien. "Playing that much, sometimes games aren't always perfect. That's why we win a lot of them, and that's why sometimes we play games like this. It's about building some consistency in our game and being better in every area. You can't win in this league if you don't have all 19 horses going, and tonight we didn't have all 19 horses going."
