Julien: 'We've slipped a lot in parts of our game'

CALGARY - After a less-than-stellar performance against the Edmonton Oilers to open their three-game Western Canada road trip, the Canadiens were back at work on Wednesday afternoon at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The on-ice workout was followed by a video session, as head coach Claude Julien looks to get his group back on track heading into Thursday night's matchup with the Flames.
"It's about doing the right things. We've slipped a lot in parts of our game which allows other teams to get more offense going and more scoring chances, and we're giving up more goals," said Julien, who has seen his squad surrender four or more goals in seven of their last eight games. "It's little details that teams pay attention to that makes the difference, and we've slipped away from those."
Assistant captain Brendan Gallagher is certainly in agreement there.
"It's more than one thing. If it were just one thing, it would be a bit of an easier fix," said Gallagher, when asked to identify which areas, in particular, the Canadiens are focusing on improving. "We understand the mistakes that we're making, and it's just a matter of correcting it. As players, we're all smart enough to go out there and do it. It's just a commitment level that hopefully we can have against the Flames."

According to Jeff Petry, that essentially means getting back to what worked earlier in the season, when the Canadiens were equally speedy and responsible with the puck as they were without it.
"I think we were on top of pucks quicker and killing more plays. We were closing quickly," explained Petry. "I think it's all execution, a matter of us getting back quickly and forwards getting back quickly in the right spots, making that first pass easier, and things will go from there. We had a tough time doing that against Edmonton, and that's the reason why we spent so much time in our D zone."
With that in mind, Petry believes the Habs are best suited coming into their second straight tilt in Alberta with a rather simple mindset.
"I don't think our focus needs to be on them," stressed Petry, referencing the Flames. "Our game has kind of taken a step back, so I think the main focus is just to execute our game and get back to playing the way we were to start the year."

Helping the goalies is key
After watching Antti Niemi ply his trade for the last two games, Carey Price will likely be the man in between the pipes on Thursday night.
Julien wouldn't confirm that Price would be his starter, but he did mention that there was a "good possibility" that the six-time All-Star would get the nod.
Regardless of who is in goal, though, the Canadiens have to find a way to support their netminders on a more consistent basis.
"That's on us. They're having to make too many high-quality saves. You look at the game against Edmonton. It was 3-2 going into the third period because of our goaltender. We've got to be better. We've got to help those guys out more," insisted Gallagher. "We've talked about it, but you can only talk so much. It's time for us to go out there and get the job done… Time after time, they've been letting us hang around, but we've got to do a better job of protecting that high-danger scoring area and make them earn their chances a little bit more."

No doubt Julien expects his group to deliver in that department versus Bill Peters' squad.
"We aren't doing the right things that we did at the beginning of the year that kept the scoring chances down. That's what we have to do to help our goalie, and our goalie will make the saves to help us," said Julien. "That's why we're called a team."

Price dishes on several topics
It's easy to see that Price and Antti Niemi have a solid relationship.
The Canadiens' starter is a big fan of the 35-year-old Finn and the way he goes about his business.
"He's great," praised Price. "It's nice to have a veteran guy that you can bounce ideas off of and talk about the position and go over plays that happened the previous night. He's very observant."
While it wasn't easy for Price to sit on the bench and watch his teammates struggle against the Oilers, Niemi's resiliency really impressed him.
"It's not fun losing like that, especially watching. Even when things got bleak, Antti didn't give up," said Price. "That's a good mentality to have."

Like Niemi, Price is a real workhorse, and he's been grinding away to get his game back on track ahead of his next outing.
"Just practice, just figure it out and try and have that right mentality," explained Price, when asked to describe his efforts to return to form. "Just getting back to basics. That's it."
The same methodology applies to the team as a whole as the Canadiens look to right the ship against Calgary.
"Earlier in the season, we definitely knew that we were going to have to play well in our own zone. We've had success at scoring goals recently, so I think that might be at the forefront of our mentality right now," concluded Price. "I feel that if we're playing well in our own end, we'll still have that ability to score in the offensive zone so we have a nice balance. That would be great."