In the Habs' Room: "If we knew what the problem is, we could solve it"

DETROIT — Earlier this season, the Canadiens owned the third period as coach Michel Therrien rolled four lines and ground teams into submission.

But it was the Red Wings who cast the magic spell in the third period Thursday as they rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Canadiens 3-2.

While Therrien gave his team credit for battling through its second game in two nights, he conceded that, for the second consecutive night, the opposition took advantage of a lapse by the Canadiens.

“They scored the tying goal after we took a bad penalty and we had a breakdown on the winning goal,” said Therrien.

Justin Abdelkader scored a power-play goal to tie the game at 2-2 and 1:11 later, Darren Helm won it with his second goal of the night.

“It was a bang-bang play off the boards,” Dustin Tokarski said when asked to describe the game. “Maybe I could have been a little more patient on the play but …”

It was Helm who displayed the patience, waiting until Tokarski had committed himself before shooting. Defenceman Greg Pateryn attempted to back up the goaltender, but Helm found the mark with only his third goal of the season.

“We took three penalties in the third period and I don’t know whether they were all justified but we can’t do that,” said Lars Eller.

Tokarski was making his first start of the season and he kept the Canadiens in contention for most of the game, receiving a passing grade from Therrien.

“I wasn’t nervous out there,” said Tokarski. “I’ve played in the NHL and I’ve won in this building.”

The Canadiens have lost four in a row and five of their last six games and, while he’s not looking for excuses, Therrien noted that Montreal has been missing some key players, starting with goaltender Carey Price and first-line right winger Brendan Gallagher.

“But we’re playing through that and we’ll be stronger when they come back,” said Therrien.

The injuries have given the Canadiens an opportunity to look at some youngsters and they figured in the scoring here.

Charles Hudon played his first NHL game and came within a split-second of scoring his first NHL goal. He was following his own shot to the net but teammate Sven Andrighetto tapped in before Hudon could get his stick on the puck.

“Sven apologized to me,” said Hudon, who was surprised to find himself in the lineup. He got the word after the team arrived here at 2 a.m. after playing in Montreal Wednesday night.

“Flower (team travel coordinator Alain Gagnon) sent an email to the guys who were skating this morning and my number wasn’t there,” said Hudon. “I told him he made a mistake and he said I was playing. I called my father. He was asleep but he was happy to hear the news and he made reservations and my parents flew here for the game.”

The other goal came from the No. 3 line with David Desharnais setting up Tomas Fleischmann.

But the top two lines continue to sputter and Therrien said they had to step up.

Max Pacioretty noted that he has to play better but he and Alex Galchenyuk are still trying to find some chemistry. Pacioretty had only one shot on goal after collecting three Wednesday night. In his games prior to hooking up with Galchenyuk, he had 16 shots on net.

“If we knew what the problem is, we could solve it but I know I have to be better,” said Pacioretty.

Tomas Plekanec had two of the Canadiens’ three breakaway chances, but linemates Eller and Paul Byron combined for one shot.

phickey@montrealgazette.com