‘We gave them the momentum,’ Pacioretty says

Power play made all the difference in Canadiens’ 4-3 overtime loss to Sabres

Max Pacioretty is on a roll, but he didn’t take any joy from his two-goal performance against the New York Islanders Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

“It seems that when I wasn’t scoring, we were winning games,” Pacioretty said after the New York Islanders rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to beat the Canadiens 4-3 in overtime.

This was a game the Canadiens dominated for t wo periods, but the difference proved to be the power play. Pacioretty scored a powerplay goal in the first period as the struggling Montreal power play showed some signs of life, going 1-for-4.

But it was a pair of secondperiod power-play goals by the Islanders’ Matt Moulson that swung the momentum in the visitors’ favour.

“Going into that third period, we were up a goal and we felt we were playing from behind already, and that’s a bad feeling,” Pacioretty said. “We have to stick to the game plan for 60 minutes — in this case, 65 minutes — but we were stuck in our own end and we were playing back on our heels.”

One of the Islanders’ few strong points is the power play, which ranks seventh in

“We were stuck in our own end and we were playing back on our heels.”

MAX PACIORETTY

the NHL — and they showed why as Moulson put two pucks past Carey Price, who did not have one of his better games.

“We took some penalties and we gave them the momentum,” Pacioretty said. “They got that power-play goal (at the 34-second mark of the second period) and got some confidence from that. We know they have a good top line and the game plan was to shoot them down and not give them any confidence. They got a couple of goals and they were back in the game.”

While Pacioretty said he was happy to score four goals in the past three games, he was hard on himself when he said he could have done more.

“We had to do a better job with the puck down in their end because if you’re down there, that’s the best defence,” Pacioretty said.

He said he enjoyed some chemistry from longtime linemate David Desharnais, who assisted on both of his goals, but he said he missed an opportunity that could have put the game out of reach.

“We had some chances, but when you’re called up to the stage and you step up and don’t deliver, it’s a pretty bad feeling,” Pacioretty said. “The coaches showed their confidence by calling a timeout to keep us out there on the power play and we didn’t do anything.”

He was referring to a power play after Lubomir Visnovsky was called for interference at 17:06 of the third period. The Canadiens failed to get a shot on goal with the extra man.

The Canadiens finished the game with a 33-25 lead in shots, but the Islanders had an 8-4 edge in the third period when Frans Nielsen scored to tie the game. Thomas Hickey scored the winner with his first NHL point.

The game once again focused on a Montreal power play that went 1-for-4 and is a mere 2-for-27 over the past six games. Pacioretty said it has been difficult to practise the power play because of “the amount of games that we’re playing in a short time, (but) it’s no excuse. We have to be better. The forwards have been too stationary and that makes it easy to defend. We have to move more.”

Price only faced three shots in the first period, but he said that had no bearing on the collapse later in the game.

“We have to stay focused no matter what,” Price said. “The momentum changed after those two goals.”

Pacioretty made it clear that Price wasn’t to blame for the loss.

“We let him down and I’m embarrassed,” he said. “I think we’re all embarrassed.”