OTT@MTL: Quotes of the night

MONTREAL - The Canadiens were edged 3-2 by the Senators on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

Following the game, goaltender Carey Price and forwards Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki met the media.
They were followed by head coach Claude Julien.
Here are a few highlights from their Zoom-based Q&A with reporters:
Up 1-0 in the first period on a goal by Brendan Gallagher, the Canadiens surrendered two goals in quick succession to Thomas Chabot and Tim Stützle late in the frame to fall behind. That didn't help the Habs' cause, according to Price:
It's definitely a little bit deflating. It's always tough to give up one goal at the end of a period like that, but when you give up two, it leaves a little bit of a sour taste in your mouth. But overall, after that, I thought we responded fairly well. I thought especially in the third we carried the majority of the play. We just didn't finish our chances. We created a bunch, but you have to give their goaltender credit.

Speaking of Stützle, the 19-year-old rookie forward impressed Price with the first multi-point game of his NHL career, finishing the night with three points (1 goal, 2 assists) for Ottawa:
He looks good. He looks like he's having fun out there, just playing in the NHL and living the dream.

Tatar, meanwhile, was asked whether the Canadiens struggled to get up for a game against a Senators team that was riding a seven-game losing streak entering the encounter:
Not really. I think it's on us. We have to get ready for every game, no matter who we're playing. We were a little bit sloppy tonight. We just have to be better. We'll watch the video and see what we did wrong. When we play next time, then we want to be better, we want to win and get the two points. It doesn't really matter if you play a bottom team or a first-place team. It's a tough league, it's a tight league. Every team is playing well and every team is battling and skating, so it's a challenge every night. We have to be ready for it.

The Habs certainly put their fair share of pucks on goaltender Matt Murray, but he surrendered just two goals on 38 shots. They could've made his life more difficult, though, according to Tatar:
We have to do a better job in front of him, but at the same time, there are going to be nights like this. I know there were a lot of shots. Maybe we didn't have enough traffic in front of him. Sometimes you hit the sweet spot, sometimes you don't. I think we took enough shots, but we weren't effective. I think we created our opportunities. I won't say we played a perfect game, but we had our opportunities to score more goals and we didn't.

For his part, Nick Suzuki provided an open and honest evaluation of his performance in the first of two straight games versus Ottawa:
It was definitely a tough night. It was definitely my worst game of the year so far. I was fighting the puck a bit. But as a line, I thought we generated a bit more in the third there. We had a little talk. We were frustrated with playing a lot in the defensive zone. We wanted to get a good transition going. We've got to bounce back.

The 21-year-old centerman fully understands what aspects of his play need improvement heading into Saturday afternoon's contest at the Canadian Tire Centre:
Tonight I was struggling to read the play a bit. There were a few times where I was getting lost in the defensive zone, and that's not something I'm used to. I've got to definitely clear that up. I'll watch my shifts, learn from that and be ready for the next game.

As for Julien, he wasn't pleased with the way his players went about their business on home turf:
I thought we were fighting the puck tonight. Those two goals at the end of the first period hurt us. We didn't play well in the second. We were missing passes and we weren't making simple plays. It wasn't a good game on our part. You have to give Ottawa credit. They played well. They have a good work ethic and they're dedicated. We'll have to rebound on Saturday and be ready to play a big game.

Julien also talked about Suzuki's self-evaluation:
Nick had a tough night. He's right. It was his toughest game since the start of the season. That'll happen over the course of a season. He's a proud athlete and he isn't scared to say it. I'm sure he'll bounce back next game.