‘We just didn’t execute’

The Canadiens find themselves in the same position they were in at this time last week — preparing to face the Ottawa Senators in a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division.

The issue appeared to be settled last weekend when the Canadiens swept the Senators in a pair of back-to-back games. That gave Montreal a five-point lead over the second-place Senators and the Canadiens were looking at a string of home games against the NHL’s have-nots.

But the Canadiens lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 Thursday night for their second consecutive loss and Ottawa beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in a shootout for their second straight win. As a result, the Senators sit one point behind the Canadiens as they visit the Bell Centre Saturday (7 p.m., Sportsnet, TVA Sports, TSN-690 Radio). Ottawa also has a game in hand.

Coach Claude Julien juggled his forward lines Thursday night and, when it was all over, he said that he

I’d like to have set lines, but if you look at the way we played tonight, would you stick with them?

will continue to experiment, which doesn’t sound like an ideal situation with the start of the playoffs less than three weeks away.

“I’d like to have set lines, but if you look at the way we played tonight, would you stick with them?” Julien asked.

The Canadiens managed only one goal — they also scored once in Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Detroit — and managed only 22 shots. They were trailing 2-1 going into the third and that has been a time when the Canadiens go into overdrive, but they were limited to six shots in the third period.

Most of the conversation going into the game revolved around the decision to move Alex Galchenyuk to left wing on a line with Andrew Shaw at centre and Artturi Lehkonen on the right side.

Galchenyuk opened the scoring for the Canadiens and he had a couple of other scoring chances, but the most generous comment you could make was that this was the Canadiens’ best line.

“I thought Galchenyuk played well on the wing,” said Julien. “I thought he had some great opportunities, but most of all I liked his attitude. He said: ‘I don’t care where I play.’ ”

Shaw set up Galchenyuk for his goal, but he showed the rust that can accumulate when you haven’t played centre for a while. He won only four of his 14 faceoffs and Julien said: “We have to give him some time. I have to keep working at finding some balanced lines.”

Tomas Plekanec won two of 16 faceoffs and, in an ironic twist, Galchenyuk won both of his draws.

Galchenyuk said he felt comfortable on the wing, noting: “I’ve played there before.”

He said the Canadiens had a good start, but he called their collapse “unacceptable.”

The top line of Max Pacioretty, Philip Danault and Alex Radulov was generally ineffective. Pacioretty said he was confident that things would get better as Danault gets comfortable on the line, but it’s not like he’s a stranger to the position.

“I guess it wasn’t our night,” said defenceman Jordie Benn. “We just didn’t execute like we wanted to and it showed. Our first period was pretty good and then we kind of just got complacent and got sloppy.

“Every team that’s going to come in here is going to bring their best,” he added. “We know all the teams that are out of the playoffs are looking to bite the teams that have a chance or are already in the playoffs.”