Power out

MONTREAL -- The Habs let the Sharks power play smell blood on Friday night.

The penalty woes started early as Torrey Mitchell got called for interference just 0:13 into the game. Nine minutes and two calls later, it was 2-0 San Jose.
Then after a four-penalty opening frame, it started to look like the Habs were going to need a bigger penalty box.
"Getting two on the power play early is obviously going to let their offense feel it. They got too many for us to come back from, even though we battled back at the end," admitted Max Pacioretty following a third period in which Brian Flynn and Jeff Petry both scored while the Habs outshot the Sharks 10-4. "They're a team we wanted to keep off the power play. They're dangerous on the power play, and we know that they rely on getting their chances power play. Feeding off that gives them confidence, and that's what they did [tonight]."

But following an undisciplined first, the Habs would only be down a man once more in the third -- at one point even looking like they might pull off the comeback while buzzing around the Sharks net during the final 2:45 of 6-on-5.
"We tried to keep working. Obviously we didn't want to take penalties -- it just happened that way. We knew before the game to stay out of the box, but we were a little undisciplined and also had a some bad luck," continued the Habs captain. "We've got to stay positive. We don't want it to feel like a morgue in here when we lose a game or two, but we know we have to be better, play with more urgency early on, stay out of the box, and roll four lines. We just dug too big of a hole to get ourselves out of tonight."

In doing so, the Habs also saw a rare occurrence take place for the first time in over two years.
After allowing the game's fourth goal at 6:44 in the second, Carey Price's night was cut short as Al Montoya came in in relief, ending a streak of 97 complete games for the All-Star netminder.
"I think we all let each other down. It was a tough start and a bad first period," acknowledged Shea Weber, who registered four shots on goal against the Sharks. "He's stood on his head so many times for us, so it wasn't easy to see him pulled."

Indeed, Nathan Beaulieu wanted to make one thing clear in regards to the Habs goaltender, postgame.
"Price wasn't pulled because he wasn't good enough. He's the best player in the world and he's our best player, so it had nothing to do with him," underlined the 24-year-old defenseman. "It was us, and sometimes we need a wakeup call."
Luckily the alarm is already set for 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.
"We've done a great job of [starting strong] for most of the year. We knew coming in that San Jose comes hot out of the gate -- they did it when the boys were in Cali -- so we expected it," added Beaulieu. "We've just got to take ownership -- tonight was unacceptable -- but I liked the way we finished and we've got to carry that over tomorrow in Washington."