The Montreal Canadiens will try to conclude their four-game homestand on a high note when they host the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday night.
Montreal won the first two games of the homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets (5-1) and Edmonton Oilers (3-0), but couldn’t keep up with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday and lost 6-2.
The Canadiens surrendered five goals in the second period, eliciting boos from the home crowd.
“We’re a young team and that comes with the territory, but the guys know that games like this are unacceptable for where we’re at,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I don’t think it was a work ethic thing. It was bad decision-making and a lot of individual mistakes, but we deserved those boos.”
Montreal seemed to have recovered from a six-game losing streak by winning three of four and the team had a four-day break between games before hosting Vegas, but everything unraveled in the second period.
“You can’t really get worse, in my opinion, than tonight’s second period,” Montreal left wing Juraj Slafkovsky said. “So, you can only play better and make better decisions with the puck because that was just stupid.”
On the positive side, the Canadiens blanked the Golden Knights in the first period and held them to one late goal in the third.
“We played a pretty good game in the first and third, and just let it slip away in the second,” Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki said. “Some bad turnovers cost us and they’re a good team and they took advantage, so if we clean that up, we’re right in and it’s probably a closer game.”
Utah will be wrapping up a four-game road trip when they visit Montreal. Utah has lost four of its past five, most recently 3-2 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.
Utah coach Andre Tourigny liked his team’s compete level against Toronto, but said they need to learn how to manage the game better.
“Learn to make sure we have short shifts, especially on back-to-backs, and play the right way,” Tourigny said. “It’s a big issue. You get on the road and you repeat the same mistakes, same guys, stick penalties. That’s tough.”
Utah killed five of six penalties against the Maple Leafs, but had 18 giveaways and went 28-for-61 in the faceoff circle.
“Our game management, our game in the game, cost us a lot (against Toronto),” Tourigny said. “From bad changes to getting in penalty trouble, it costs you at some point. We were playing a team that was playing well, who had won three in a row. They’re not easy to play against.”
Utah managed to cut it to one early in the third on a goal by Jack McBain, but couldn’t get another one past Joseph Woll before the final horn sounded.
“I think we showed a lot of resilience in the third,” McBain said. “I thought we played really well and dominated in the third. Too bad we couldn’t get it done, but a lot to build on.”
Karel Vejmelka is expected to start in goal for the sixth time in seven games for Utah, which will likely need Connor Ingram to start one of the back-to-back games this weekend.
–Field Level Media