Mistakes prove costly
Entering the third period ahead 2-1 against the League's lowest-ranked team, the Habs were obviously disappointed that they came out on the losing end when the final buzzer sounded.
Charlie Lindgren, making his second start of the season in Montreal and his first since New Year's Eve, felt his club gave an honest effort but came up short in the end.
"I think we kept on going, we kept on playing hard. It was just a tough hockey game. Being up 2-1 going into the third, we expected to put them away," shared Lindgren, who made 26 saves. "And they score early, and it just turns into who can get the biggest goal of the night."
Forward Tomas Tatar, playing his eighth game against his former club, noted that the Habs will have to do a better job of limiting mistakes if they want a better outcome moving forward.
"Maybe it's a lack of confidence, but it seems like we do make an error like that every game," he acknowledged. "It's hard to win that way."
Head coach Claude Julien wasn't pleased with the missed opportunity that was Tuesday night's loss. He told reporters that in some cases, the difficult circumstances surrounding the team's injury situation are to blame, but in others, he'd like to see more commitment and better decision-making from his players.
"The mistakes that were made… for some, it was fatigue. We're asking a lot from some players. For others, it's a lack of engagement. When you look at the situation, you can find all the excuses in the world, but it comes back to us," outlined Julien, whose team has now lost seven straight games since returning from the Christmas break. "It's not a lack of effort. Still, we're making bad decisions and the level of engagement isn't always there. For some players, it's a learning experience. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror for tonight's loss. It's unacceptable."
Losing skid takes its toll
Rookie Nick Suzuki scored his eighth of the season in the second period, but the celebrations wouldn't last long.
After the game, the 20-year-old admitted that morale in the room wasn't great.
"It's real tough. Everyone is not in the best spirits right now. We just have to work our way out of it. It's real disappointing to be having this again," he declared. "We had [a losing streak] earlier in the season. We need to find somewhere deep in ourselves to get out of this."
Max Domi, who is now in a tie for the team lead with 21 assists on the season after earning a helper on Suzuki's goal, noted that the only way for his squad to get out of its funk is to hunker down, find solutions from within, and motivate one another to power through it.
"We believe in each other in this locker room. We're going to push each other to get through this. It's going to take every guy, starting with next game," he expressed. "We can do it. We just have to go out and execute now."
The Canadiens play their next game on Thursday at home against the Edmonton Oilers.
