VAN@MTL: Quotes of the night

MONTREAL - The Canadiens posted an emphatic 6-2 win over the Canucks at the Bell Centre on Monday night.

Following the contest, defensemen Jeff Petry and Victor Mete met the media, along with forward Jake Evans.
Head coach Claude Julien also fielded questions from reporters.
Here are a few highlights from their Zoom-based Q&A:
The Habs have won six of their nine games to start the season, and Petry attributes that success to the squad's versatility and quickness that is proving tough for opponents to handle:
The depth that we have and the personnel that we have, it's a fun group to play with. I don't think there's any way that we can't play. We can play a fast game, we can play a physical game, depending on what the other team throws at us. There's one thing that we always rely on, and that's our speed. I think with that, it's hard for teams, if we come out and set the pace early, it's hard for teams to keep up with us for the full 60 minutes.

Given the 56-game regular season schedule, teams can't afford slumps of any kind this year. Petry says this group is wholeheartedly committed to rebounding from any loss immediately, just like they did again on Monday night:
When we lost that game in overtime in Toronto, it was something where we said we don't want to lose two in a row. It's important that we have that mindset to make sure that we have a bounce back game. When we did lose, we realized what we needed to improve on from our game against Calgary, and the guys responded well and we played well tonight.

After playing his first game since August 2020, Mete reflected on the experience. He logged 17:45 of ice time and blocked three shots along the way:
I was actually happy with my game and just to kind of get back on the ice with the boys. It was a lot of fun. A little bit too excited, I think, in the first, but it was a lot of fun.

The 22-year-old blueliner was also asked to describe how he went about staying ready to play if called upon:
I've been able to kind of keep in shape with the taxi squad skates after practice. They've been good. That's pretty much what I've been doing. I've been watching video and watching other defensemen, so when I do get the chance in the lineup like tonight, I've been learning new things.

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For his part, Evans shared his theory behind why the Canadiens are scoring so many short-handed goals these days. Artturi Lehkonen registered the team's League-leading sixth short-handed marker on Monday night:
I think it's just how aggressive we are, and when we see a chance, we go for it. There are so many guys that can penalty kill and that helps us a lot. We have a lot of fresh legs out there and we just keep coming. I think that's been the main thing. I don't think it's focusing on creating chances. It's obviously defense first, but when there's an opportunity, we're going to go for it.

Evans believes the Habs' ability to force opponents into making critical mistakes is undoubtedbly one of their strong points:
When we're beating these teams, they're a little frustrated with some of the plays we're making. That's just the way we are. We can roll all four lines and all six defensemen, and just keep coming after you. We can just be a very frustrating team to play against. As our team's set up, it's going to keep coming and that can really frustrate teams.

Julien, meanwhile, commented on Petry's steady contributions offensively after watching him score twice and collect an assist versus Vancouver. Petry now leads the Canadiens in scoring with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists), and his plus-10 differential is second only to fellow rearguard Joel Edmundson:
I'm happy to see him produce. He also produced over the last few seasons, too. It's also nice to see his differential in the plus column. Jeff and Joel finished the game with a combined plus-7 differential. Those two players lead our team in that category. It shows that they're reliable at both ends of the ice. It's a really good sign for Petry. He's improving every year. That's a good thing for a player his age.

The Habs' bench boss ultimately praised his group for their effort on Monday night, but he fully expects the Canucks to come out firing on all cylinders on Tuesday:
If you consider yourself to be a good team, you want to make sure that you don't lose two games in a row. I didn't think we played a bad game on Saturday night, but we didn't find a way to score. It's still a loss, though. We had to rebound by finding a way to win. I thought the guys responded well tonight. We played a good game. But, we're playing them again. They'll be even hungrier. We'll be facing a bigger challenge. We have to be ready for that kind of challenge. It's going to happen a lot this season because we're always playing the same teams. That'll likely be our biggest challenge. We have to be ready to face a team that will be better than tonight.