OTTAWA
Max Pacioretty extended his goal-scoring streak to six games Thursday night, but he said he would trade a couple of those goals for a win.
“We’ve had a tough little stretch of four games where we’ve lost three,” Paioretty said after scoring the lone goal in the Canadiens’ 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. “We want to do what we can to help our team win but if I’m not contributing in other areas, it doesn’t feel as good. Hopefully, I can keep helping the team offensively and also do some other good things.”
This game was effectively over in the first period, which coach Michel Therrien described as “our worst first period of the season.” That’s quite a statement when you consider that the Canadiens have thrived this season despite some horrendous starts.
Pacioretty’s goal was the only highlight for the Canadiens during a period that saw Ottawa outshoot Montreal 20-6.
“You have to give the Senators a lot of credit,” said Therrien. “They came out hard. We advised our players what to expect and we didn’t compete at all in the first period, and the result is we lost the game. We played better in the second and the third, but it was too late.”
The Senators opened the door for the Canadiens with a string of penalties in the second period but Montreal, which used three power-play goals to come back in Columbus on Wednesday night, went 0-for-4 with the extra man.
“We got some opportunities on our power play,” said Therrien. “You can’t always judge by the results. We got some chances and this is what you’re looking for, trying to get some momentum. And this is what we did in the second period, but (Ottawa goaltender Craig) Anderson made some key saves.”
The Canadiens were fortunate to trail 2-1 after the first period, but it became more of an uphill battle when Erik Karlsson scored at 2:16 of the second period.
“We’ve come back from two or three goals in the past, but it’s easier when it’s only one goal,” noted Lars Eller.
Pacioretty said Anderson was good, but he suggested that the Canadiens could have made his life more difficult.
“Their goaltender was sharp and in a game like that, you have to have a playoff mentality and get pucks to the net,” said Pacioretty. “But we were a little bit too much on the perimeter. We had some movement on the power play and we had some looks, but maybe we could have taken more shots.
“That’s a team that’s playing with desperation,” added Pacioretty. “They’ve had a change (of coaches) so they’re all trying to make a statement. We wish we could have built off a great third-period last night, but we didn’t and the only people we can blame is ourselves.”
The line of Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher played another strong game and combined for 10 of the Canadiens’ 24 shots. But Therrien said he was disappointed that there wasn’t more of a contribution from the other lines.
“We need contributions from more than one line,” said Therrien. “We had seven forwards who didn’t get a shot on net. This is unacceptable. Right now, we only have contributions from one line and it’s not good enough.”
If the Canadiens failed to make life difficult for Anderson, they didn’t do much to help backup goalie Dustin Tokarski. Two of the three goals he surrendered — the fourth was an empty-netter — were what he described as “greasy” goals scored off rebounds and scrambles in front.
He found himself down a goal after only 69 seconds, thanks to the Canadiens losing a faceoff in their own end.
“We had an icing for no reason,” said Therrien. “Then we lost the faceoff and there was poor coverage in front and they took the lead. It’s in the details and we weren’t sharp at all.”
