‘Heartbreaking’ loss sees Islanders get crucial point
Canadiens on a roll in last four, but find themselves no closer to a playoff berth
The battered Canadiens have earned six of a possible eight points in their last four games, but it hasn’t moved them any closer to a playoff spot.
The Canadiens scored a powerplay goal in the third period to draw even with the New York Islanders Monday night, but John Tavares’s second goal of the night gave the Islanders a 5-4 overtime win. The result was that the visitors claimed the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and Montreal remains eight points back.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Habs winger Paul Byron said. “We’re playing a team that we’re chasing and you need the regulation win. Any time you go into overtime, it hurts, and to lose the extra point is a big loss for sure. When you have 56 shots on net, a lot of quality chances, you expect a better result. A couple of mistakes cost us the game (and) we have to make sure we’re not making those mistakes that cost us the game.”
Byron was put in a difficult position because the Canadiens have lost Phillip Danault and Andrew Shaw to injuries. Byron was plugged in at centre on a line with Max Pacioretty and Charles Hudon and they had the unenviable task of matching up against the Islanders’ No. 2 line, centred by rookie Mathew Barzal. The NHL’s top-scoring rookie had a hand in the Islanders’ first three goals with a goal and two assists.
“He’s an incredible player,” Byron said of Barzal. “It’s unbelievable to see a 20-year-old skate and handle the puck like he does. He’s probably the closest thing to (Connor) McDavid in terms of skill and speed.
“It was a big challenge for our line to match up against them, and unfortunately we came out on the wrong end. But there were a lot of positives in this game. I think we did a lot of good things.”
Head coach Claude Julien had to be creative putting together his lineup and he gave Byron a passing grade. When Byron struggled in the faceoff circle — he won three of seven — he started using Hudon for the draws.
“(Hudon) did OK — he was decent on faceoffs and that let Paul cover a lot of the ice,” Julien said after Hudon won seven of 14 draws. “As a line, they were doing well and they had some scoring chances.”
Byron said he and Hudon talked before the game about sharing the faceoff duties.
“He’s been doing a good job and I said if I wasn’t doing well, he’d step in there and he did a good job,” Byron said. “He works hard and he took the faceoffs and then reading off each other and the first guy back plays defence.”
Julien said if the Canadiens maintain their current pace, they have a chance to move up.
“We took six of eight points and if we keep that standard, we’ll be OK,” Julien said. “We’re frustrated that we didn’t get that second point, but there were mistakes that created that situation. The important thing is that the effort is there. We did a good job in our end (Saturday against Boston), but tonight not so much.”
The result was a tough night for Carey Price, who gave up the winning goal to Tavares after making a spectacular save on the Islanders’ star.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Price said. “I thought we played pretty well (and) we deserved to win. Those extra points are obviously valuable to us right now. It would be nice to get (them), but we are playing pretty good hockey so we got to stay positive.”
Defensive lapses allowed the visitors to score two goals early in the game, prompting Price to say: “It’s definitely not the start we wanted, but I thought we were pretty resilient tonight and wound up playing a pretty good game.”
Any time you go into overtime, it hurts … When you have 56 shots on net, a lot of quality chances, you expect a better result.