MTL@TOR: Quotes of the night

TORONTO - The Canadiens dropped a 3-2 decision to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

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Following the game, forwards Corey Perry and Jonathan Drouin, goaltender Jake Allen and interim head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters via Zoom.
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Perry on finding his scoring touch with the Canadiens:
It's kind of what I've done my whole career, just being around the net. I'm playing with some good players. There are some really good players on this hockey team that can find you there. I feel confident and I just have to keep doing what I'm doing.

Perry on the Habs' compete level against Toronto:
They won the first period. I thought we outplayed them in the second period, and for half of the third they probably outplayed us. It's close. It's a bounce here and there. You look at their second goal, it went off two players and right to an open guy, who banged it in. That's hockey. That's how it goes in the playoffs. There's a bounce, and that's the hockey game. I think we're right there. We've got to continue to push a little harder and get a little bit better each and every night.

Drouin on the loss to the Maple Leafs:
I think they definitely had the advantage in the first period. They were skating hard and generating scoring chances on the power play. They set the pace. We fought back in the second. We controlled the play, we had the puck and we had chances. They came out hard early in the third. We had trouble maintaining the rhythm and they capitalized to scored goals. I'd say they won two of the three periods.

Drouin on Perry's season thus far:
It's incredible to have a player of his caliber on the team. He's had a great career in the NHL and he's still going. He's an important player. He can score big goals. Since he arrived, he's helped us set the pace. He loves playing and talking hockey. He's a real hockey guy. It's no surprise that he scores so many goals around the net. He's always in front and he can put pucks in.

Allen on facing the likes of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner:
I think they're the fastest offensive team that we play in terms of puck possession, so every time we play them, it's always a challenge. It's a fun challenge. It should be a challenge you embrace. Those guys are elite players in this League and they're always looking for that extra play. When most guys would shoot the puck, they're skilled enough to find extra plays and that's why they're good players.

Allen on the difficulties of playing without Brendan Gallagher:
We're going to miss Gally dearly. No question. It's unfortunate the injury that happened to him. He's the heart and soul and the engine of this team. You always need an engine. You've got to find a way to find one, and we're going to find that collectively as a group. It was our first game without him tonight. It's definitely a big presence lost, but this is an opportunity for guys to step up and play well and fill his shoes. He's a heart-and-soul Canadien, and this is another chance for someone else to fill his shoes until he comes back for us.

Ducharme on Jesperi Kotkaniemi's first game at right-wing:
He had a solid game. He has to keep growing. It's just more experience for him. Overall, I'd say it was a positive experience.

Ducharme on the lessons learned from the loss:
We were just one goal away from tying it up. We had our chances in the second period. We weren't active enough in the first. I don't think they dominated us for 60 minutes. We're right there with them, and we're looking forward to the next game against them.