UNDISCIPLINED PLAY DRAWS THERRIEN’S IRE
The Canadiens would have you believe that the third period of Monday’s game showed that they can hang with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But 20 minutes of desperate hockey couldn’t erase the reality that the Lightning has owned the Habs this season. The 5- 3 win gave Tampa a sweep of the fivegame season series and, the third period aside, there was never any doubt which team was better.
Coach Michel Therrien bemoaned a lack of discipline on the part of his troops and said he was very disappointed.
“We were undisciplined and it took away all the momentum we needed to have in the first two periods,” Therrien said. “When you’re undisciplined, you don’t deserve to win.”
And Therrien recognized the numerous defensive breakdowns when he said that his defence corps “had a hard time.”
“We talk about playing the right way and that wasn’t the right way,” said Dale Weise, whose four- minute visit to the penalty box allowed the Lightning to go ahead for good. He received a minor for slashing early in the second and was assessed an extra two for protesting the call.
Weise said he didn’t feel he had crossed a line with his comments, but admitted: “I have to learn to keep my mouth shut.”
The first two minutes went well for the Habs as Max Pacioretty scored a short- handed goal to tie the game 1- 1. “I thought that was the turning point, but they got one back right away,” he said.
Jonathan Drouin scored the go- ahead goal and it was one of the goals that had Therrien wondering what happened to the defence. There was a bad line change and missed assignments that left Carey Price facing one- on- one situations all night.
“We got off to a slow start with those penalties,” Pacioretty said. “You look at the shot clock and it was 10- 1, and a lot of guys were getting cold on the bench. But that’s no excuse. We were still in the game and we still had the rest of the first and the second periods to catch up, but we didn’t have good intensity.”
And that brings us to the third period.
Defenceman Jeff Petry’s first goal as a Canadien cut the Tampa lead to one goal early in the third, but that was as close as Montreal would come. There were chances to tie the game — David Desharnais fired wide on a partial breakaway and Alex Galchenyuk hit a crossbar — but you never had the feeling that there was one of those third- period miracles in the works.
“It’s great to get that first one out of the way, but it would have been better if we won,” Petry said
“It’s frustrating because it’s happened so many times against this team. But in the third period, we showed we can play with this team,” Pacioretty said.
So how do you explain Tampa’s dominance this season?
“They’re a hard- working team, they’re well coached, everybody’s bought into their system and that’s brought them success,” Pacioretty said. “We’re the same way when we’re playing well. They have their off games like everyone else, but it seems they’ve caught us on a lot of off nights. It’s not enough to play only one period. We were giving them breaks and that team is too skilled and they’re going to put it in the back of the net if you give them a chance.”
Pacioretty said the Lightning was able to draw penalties with speed and he noted that it is something the Canadiens have to do. Tampa had five power plays, while the Canadiens had three. Each team scored a power- play goal.
When it was all said and done, Therrien had the last word: “We didn’t execute, it’s pretty simple.”