First goal a ‘collective brain cramp’: Price
WASHINGTON – The Canadiens find themselves in a deeper hole as they head to Florida to play the team which is holding the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The last-place Canadiens missed yet another chance to close ground as they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Washington Capitals Friday night to remain eight points behind the Florida Panthers.
The Canadiens took the first shot on goal, but Erik Cole summed up the performance when he said: “It was not a great start. We knew they were going to come at us real hard. Seems like we didn’t get going until we spotted them one (goal), then we got into our game. We did some things better tonight, but it’s frustrating.”
“We have to win games,” said Rene Bourque, whose short-handed goal in the third period spoiled Michal Neuvirth’s shutout bid.
“We got down early,” said Bourque.
“We beat ourselves with three goals that shouldn’t have been scored. We pinched on one, we had an odd-man rush and on the first goal we left a guy alone backdoor.
“It’s hard to come back from a three-goal lead. None of it’s Pricer’s fault. He made some great saves early for us.”
Pricer, aka Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, would disagree with that assessment at least as far as the first goal was concerned.
“It was pretty much a collective brain cramp,” said Price.
Tomas Plekanec started it when he passed on the chance to backhand the puck out of the Canadiens’ zone and instead threw it around the boards where it was picked off Jason Chimera, who spotted Mathieu Perreault going backdoor.
“It went around the boards and the guy just threw it in front,” said Price. “I thought Kabby was going to get to get it and he thought I was going to deflect it. At the end of the day, I think that’s probably on me. I have to take the blame on that one.”
While coach Randy Cunneyworth said the first goal wasn’t crucial to the final result, he did note that Kabby, aka defenceman Tomas Kaberle, should have been aware of the player behind him.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” said Price, who has lost five of his last six starts. “I thought our third period was great, (but) they sort of stayed back and helped us with that. It’s just frustrating.”
The Canadiens outshot the Capitals 31-24, but they had a 12-5 edge in the third period when the game was essentially over.
Bourque, who put three of his eight shots on net, said he’s feeling more comfortable.
“I’m just playing, not thinking too much and the shots are coming,” said Bourque. “We always want to get more shots. (Neuvirth) made some saves when he had to, but we have to get more quality scoring chances.”
Bourque had a quality chance early in the game when he tried to use a screen on a 3-on-2 break, only to have Neuvirth glove a shot headed for the top corner.
Cunneyworth called the Capitals opportunistic and said: “The result is what is frustrating. For the most part, we still got a decent response at times. What we have to have is a little more momentum.”
The coach also said the Canadiens need to be more disciplined. While they killed off six Washington power plays and scored the short-handed goal, they shot themselves in the foot when they had the extra man.
The Canadiens had four power plays and two of them were cut short when the Canadiens took penalties.
While the playoff prospects look dimmer with each passing day, the Canadiens can take hope from the experiences of veteran Chris Campoli, who says he’s been here before.
“When I was with the (New York Islanders) we were down eight points with five or six games to go and we made the playoffs,” he said.