SAN JOSE, Calif. — Juraj Slafkovsky acquired the puck on his off wing and as an alternative of utilizing his toes and large body to defend it and jam it up the wall, he spun and fired a blind backhand cross throughout his personal blue line to Macklin Celebrini.
It didn’t price Slafkovsky’s Montreal Canadiens a purpose, nevertheless it did set the tone for a recreation that they had in hand and seemingly gave away earlier than 40 minutes had expired.
They pressured passes — and pinches — and fed the San Jose Sharks a 4-2 lead late in the second interval after taking a 2-1 lead of their very own earlier in the body. They went down 5-2 early in the third however scored three fast objectives to make it 5-5. After which they inexcusably took a too-many-men penalty to give the Sharks an influence play with 4:57 to play, acquired scored on, and misplaced 7-5, with Adam Gaudette’s empty-netter sealing their destiny with 4 seconds to go.
“We performed some good minutes, however not sufficient of them,” stated Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “We shot ourselves in the foot too usually and it price us.”
It price the Canadiens their first regulation loss in seven video games, in order that’s not horrible.
What was horrible was that they may’ve gained had they performed the appropriate means, however as an alternative price themselves floor in the race in the direction of the highest of the Atlantic Division on an evening the place Boston and Buffalo each gained.
That they didn’t play the appropriate means is what ought to concern them forward of video games in Anaheim and Los Angeles to shut the week. As a result of video games at this stage of the season are about consideration to element and consistency, and the Canadiens have been severely missing in each departments in opposition to the Sharks — beginning with that cross Slafkovsky placed on Celebrini’s tape late in the primary interval.
We spoke with him for lower than two minutes, and over that point, he repeatedly used that terminology to describe his group’s play, the play of the penalty kill (which allowed two objectives), and his personal play, which fell woefully in need of his private customary in opposition to essentially the most threatening Shark on the ice.
Positive, Celebrini didn’t rating on that present from Slafkovsky, however the Canadiens gave the younger phenom his 30th purpose of the season, plus assists 55, 56 and 57.
And a mix-up between Guhle and Hutson led to that too-many-men penalty that undid their commendable comeback effort.
“It’s not the one mistake we did tonight,” stated Phillip Danault, who gave the Canadiens their 2-1 lead earlier than watching as teammate Jayden Struble bobbled the puck on the offensive blue line after which misplaced a battle in entrance of his personal internet on the purpose Michael Misa scored to make it 2-2.
The Canadiens compounded errors on the objectives Celebrini and Alex Wenneberg scored 25 seconds aside to put the Sharks up 5-2 in the 19th minute of the second interval.
They responded with a power-play purpose from Ivan Demidov and two objectives from Alex Newhook, and, regardless of their finest efforts, couldn’t chase down the lead Keifer Sherwood gave the Sharks with 3:26 to go in regulation.
“We gave up an excessive amount of high quality stuff,” stated Newhook. “Whenever you let in six objectives, it’s laborious to win a recreation, particularly while you get down three late in a recreation. I believed we confirmed some character to come again there and gave ourselves a shot, nevertheless it was a recreation that we knew the small print wanted to be there (in opposition to) a younger group, the run-and-gun group that they’re, and sadly, I don’t assume (we performed) up to our requirements, and the outcomes mirrored that.”
You’d anticipate main corrections come Friday in Anaheim, with emphasis on puck administration and neutral-zone protection — areas the place the Canadiens have been loosest, in accordance to Guhle.
“I don’t assume we had many d-zone shifts the place we acquired actually hemmed in,” he stated. “A variety of their stuff was off the push or simply free in the impartial zone, so it’s one thing we’ve acquired to clear up for positive.”
The Canadiens often tidy up effectively after a loss.
This stat from NHL statistician Chris Meaney displays that.
“All people’s acquired to do their job,” stated St. Louis. “It’s to stack up shifts, stack up minutes far more. I believe as of late we’ve performed plenty of good minutes in video games. I felt tonight was most likely the bottom that we’ve performed good moments evaluating to the opposite video games, and it price us.”
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