MTL@ANA: One tough finale in Cali

ANAHEIM - For the second game in a row, the Canadiens dug themselves an early hole they simply couldn't climb out of.

Just as they did in San Jose, Claude Julien's troops surrendered the first two goals of the game again on Friday night and were ultimately unable to rally back from a deficit.
The Ducks just kept on scoring from there on out, posting an 8-2 victory at Honda Center.
"We're in a fight for a playoff spot, so you would've liked to see better from your team," said Julien. "We have players who we needed more from. To win, it takes a whole team. We didn't have that tonight. Back-to-back games are part of the League. We have to learn to manage these games better than we did tonight."
While the Canadiens did manage to cut the Ducks' lead in half on two occasions, Anaheim responded shortly thereafter both times.

That hurt, and didn't afford the Habs the momentum they were looking to establish at those key moments.
"Every time we seemed to get momentum where we scored a goal, we gave up a goal the next shift or the shift after, and that's on us," said captain Shea Weber, who netted his 200th career NHL goal in the loss. "Those shifts after a goal are important, just as important as the one that we scored right away after one of their goals, so it goes both ways."

Falling in Orange County meant that the Canadiens earned just two out of a possible six points during their trek up and down California.
That, along with the disappointing result in the road trip finale, clearly didn't sit well with the group as a whole.
"It was a little bit unacceptable, for sure," said Mike Reilly. "Just how important these last games are for us, and what we can accomplish, and what we know we can accomplish, that's a pretty big letdown tonight."

No doubt fatigue played a role in Friday night's thumping in Southern California.
The Canadiens have been travelling extensively of late, with little downtime along the way.
While Julien isn't about to use the club's rather hectic schedule as an excuse for another subpar performance, he isn't discounting it, either.
"We have to deal with it," said Julien, referencing the Habs' jam-packed calendar. "The biggest thing is the last couple of weeks we've been on the road. I think all that stuff is cumulative and it kind of caught up with us a little bit. We made a pit stop at home against Pittsburgh, packed again then left, so those aren't easy. Those kinds of trips, eventually it catches up."

The good news is that this particular trek is finally a thing of the past and the Canadiens can look ahead to some valuable time on home turf going forward.
"The West Coast swing, when you come out to Cali, is definitely tough," said Reilly. "We were on the road before that, too, and came home quick, so we've kind of been running around and playing a lot of hockey. I think this next gap of rest is going to be huge for us, and we've got to come back Tuesday [against Detroit] ready to go."