In the Habs room: 'Obviously, there were some mistakes tonight'

The Canadiens suffer multiple defensive failures as they demoralized a 6-2 loss to the Islanders, lowering their record to 3-9.

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Pat hickey • Montreal Gazette

Canadiens defender David Savard and goalkeeper Jake Allen react after Islanders players celebrate one of Brock Nelson’s second-period goals Thursday night at the Bell Center. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

Canadians have fallen into the bad habit of following their rare victories with lopsided defeats.

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They have given up at least five goals in each of the three games following a win, but coach Dominique Ducharme said Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the NewYork Islanders was not the same as the previous two blowouts.

“We see tonight differently,” Ducharme said. “The other games we were really inconsistent in our effort. We weren’t putting the right effort in the right place. We weren’t connected at all.

“Tonight we were connected, but we would have a breakdown that was costing us immediately. We need to avoid those breakdowns, but I don’t think it was the same kind of game.

“At the same time, we have to go back and look at the tape and see where we did well and, more importantly, we have to control what we can do better to avoid those mistakes.”

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When asked if he was angry about the team’s 3-9 record, he replied: “It’s frustrating, (but) I come here and put on a show, I’m not going to make headlines and do something that will be on YouTube for 20 years. . What I have to say, I’ll tell my boys. “

Ducharme was referring to Michel Therrien’s infamous spiel in which he suggested that his Pittsburgh Penguins were trying to be “the worst defensive team in the league.”

There were hints of that Tuesday night.

The generally reliable line of Mike Hoffman, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson was on the ice with five goals against, but it should be noted that three of those goals were the result of defender David Savard being outbid or making the wrong decision.

“Obviously, there were some mistakes tonight where you wanted to get the record back,” Savard said. “I think
I have to show the way. Older boys have to set a good example. I think when we start to make the right decisions, we will be fine as a team. “

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Savard was hired to help fill the considerable void left by Shea Weber’s absence. He said there were some tweaks to make to a new system, but said they were “out of the way.”

“We had good intentions,” said Tyler Toffoli, who beat Ilya Sorokin late in the third period for the Canadiens’ second goal when Montreal held a two-man lead.

“They’re a tough team to play when they have an advantage and they generate a lot of their offense from turnovers,” Toffoli said. “When you score two or three goals, you have to start cheating and you’re taking chances and making plays that you wouldn’t normally make.”

There are two statistics that stood out. The Islanders beat the Canadiens 26-22, but more significantly, the visitors blocked 29 shots while Montreal blocked nine.

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Jake Allen, who shut out a Detroit team that lacked its top two scorers Tuesday night, was eliminated after the Islanders scored five goals on 25 shots in the first two periods, but did not have much support in either. from the ends of the ice. .

On the bright side, Nick Suzuki scored a goal for the second game in a row. He also assisted in the Toffoli goal and leads the team in scoring with 10 points.

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