"That's just part of pro hockey. There are a lot of guys here and every one of us is competitive. There's a saying; easy to get here, harder to stay," underlined Carr, who played 23 games with the Canadiens a season ago, his first year in the NHL. "That's just part of the deal. I've had some good chances in preseason, but it's about doing the little things right and eventually having things go your way."
Among the little things the young Habs still need to get right is discipline, as the Canadiens were called for six penalties on Sunday -- including four in the middle frame alone -- but still managed to stay perfect on the penalty kill.
"It was tough to get some flow [with all those penalties]. Guys are still learning, myself included, and that's just part of the learning curve," continued Carr. "Those are part of the details of the game, and we'll keep getting better at them."
Another player with something to prove was the busiest man of the night, who put forth a solid 28-save performance in the loss.
"Despite losing, it was nice getting into a rhythm for once. In the past couple of games I've played I haven't been able to find a rhythm. Tonight I was able to do that, even though I allowed a couple of tough goals," acknowledged Mike Condon, who is one of four goaltenders at camp. "Matthews sprayed about ten pounds of snow into my eyes and then they scored -- but I was happy [with my performance] despite losing. That was a wild overtime. It was a lot of fun to play in with a lot of back and forth action."
But despite the high stakes with just two preseason games to go, there's at least one auditioning Hab among the hopefuls who will likely just enjoy the moment -- for at least one night.
"I was happy to score my first goal. It's a special feeling to score a goal as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, and a nice memory I'll have," shared Daniel Audette, who opened the scoring at 13:20 in the first period. "I can't think about things like [whether I'll make the team this year], or they'll get into my head. I can only concentrate on playing hard and training hard, then see what happens next."
