Compare that to this quote.
"That's the one thing you learn about the playoffs, you've got to bury your chances. I think individually we've all had chances to bury, and whether it's bad luck or not being sharp enough, we didn't do enough things well to finish them, to win."
That was said by former Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban on May 13, 2015 after Montreal was eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the playoffs.
It was the Canadiens last playoff game before Game 1 on Wednesday. Two years have passed and massive personnel changes have happened, including Subban being traded to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Shea Weber. But the words Subban said that night could just have easily been said by someone else in the Canadiens dressing room Wednesday.
It is only one game but the problem has existed for so long. To have their lack of finish around the net haunt them in Game 1 will represent a mental challenge ahead of Game 2 on Friday (7 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, TVA Sports, MSG).
The Canadiens cannot let their inability to score in this one game become more than that, because they are facing what amounts to a must-win game Friday to avoid going to New York down 2-0 in the series.
"I don't think about it," Pacioretty said. "I try not to think about it. It just seems like there's always a narrative that surrounds the team. We did a good job of scoring goals this year and we should have that confidence going into the playoffs. Tonight was an example of us not being able to capitalize on chances, but there's no point listening to negative stuff about that.
"We know what we have in this room, we know we have guys that can score goals and there were a lot of chances to score goals tonight."
Those chances to score goals need to turn into actual goals. And it needs to happen fast.