The same issues haunted the Penguins in their Halloween matchup with Montreal at the Bell Centre on Saturday, which the Canadiens won 5-4.
"I know I sound like a broken record, but we didn’t play consistently,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said.
Muse felt they needed to control momentum better, as it swung wildly in the first three-plus minutes.
The Penguins’ top line of Tommy Novak, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell set the tone right away, and that trio would go on to have a terrific night, combining for three goals and seven points.
Erik Karlsson was right there with them, scoring just 2:08 in as part of a three-point night. The captain set him up to move past Ray Bourque for sole possession of most assists with one franchise in NHL history with 1,112.
“It's incredible to talk about it. It's an NHL record,” Muse said. “With the history of this league, how long it's been around, and how many great players have been there, to be the guy who now is moving into the top of a leaderboards category like that – I've said it before, it’s nothing short of incredible. I think for everybody that's around it, that's a part of it, and that's watching it, I hope you appreciate it.”
But right after Karlsson got Pittsburgh on the board, the Canadiens responded with two goals in just 23 seconds to quickly turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
“Hockey is a game of mistakes, so mistakes are going to happen. But in terms of them being able to get two quick ones, or even sometimes just shifts with multiple chances back-to-back, we need to be better at just kind of controlling that,” Muse said.
Novak tied the score at the 7:28 mark of the first period, leaving the teams even going into the first intermission after a successful coach’s challenge by the Penguins for goalie interference on Sergei Murashov, with the rookie making his first start in about two weeks.
But early in the second period, the Canadiens again quickly struck twice to take a 4-2 lead just 2:21 in. Both Montreal players – Alexandre Texier and Chris Kreider – had time and space to make their plays
"Guys are getting clean looks there at the net, and second opportunities around the net. Those things are preventable,” Muse said. “So again, breakdowns, mistakes are going to happen, breakdowns are going to happen. It's just happening too much. Got to correct it.”
Rakell then found his fourth goal in the last five games at the 3:45 mark to cut the deficit to one, before a tough bounce gave Montreal a 5-3 lead. Lane Hutson’s shot appeared to deflect at least once before re-directing off Kris Letang’s skate at the side of the net while he battled to clear it.
The Penguins had a prime opportunity when the power play went back over the boards in the latter half of the final frame, but they couldn’t convert. Pittsburgh did get one from Crosby with the extra attacker as part of a resurgent night for the captain, who hadn’t gotten off to the start he wanted this season.
Overall, the Penguins outshot Montreal 15-4 as they pushed for the equalizer. But the Canadiens ultimately shut it down and preserved their lead until the final buzzer.
“We didn’t play well enough for 40-ish minutes,” Karlsson said. “I think that's that's pretty much the bottom line. We're still in the game for the most part of it, score-wise, which is a good thing. But then again, I don't really think that we played well enough to sustain it for long enough to come away with the W.”
