CANADIENS
Montreal

OILERS
Edmonton

Game Notes:

Lack of discipline. The Canadiens took four minor penalties in the first period alone. Giving up power-play goals is not the only negative outcome of taking too many penalties. Handing momentum to an opponent and loss of shifts/flow for offensive players set poor tone for the first period. The Habs have 41 minutes in minor penalties so far this season. Only the Winnipeg Jets have more with 42.  P.K. Subban is tied for the league lead with eight minor penalties.  David Desharnais took two dumb penalties in this game.

No power. At a success rate of 11.5 percent, the Canadiens power-play is dreadful. On the road, in 18 opportunities, Montreal has not scored a goal. The power-play is a leftover from last season where it finished in the bottom third of the league. Opposition penalty-killers are effectively focusing on the Habs points with a Desharnais-led first wave incapable of generating pressure and traffic down low.  The power-play will continue to struggle as long as Michel Therrien’s maintains his stubborn insistence to allocate the lion’s share of power-play time to a trio that has struggled for more than a year.

Get defensive. Last week we were treated to Tom Gilbert-the-good, but that was just one game.  Too often we see the opposite.  Tonight, after Andrei Markov blew a tire in the offensive zone, the Oilers had a 2-on-1 break. Gilbert should have taken away the cut across pass yielding the less-dangerous shot from the outside.  On the second Edmonton goal, Nathan Beaulieu got caught puck-watching.  Elementary errors cost two goals.

Not Price. There is an unspoken understanding that when the Canadiens play their backup goaltender, there will be a step down in expectations. Dustin Tokarski sometimes doesn’t control his rebounds, sometimes is overly aggressive to the point of taking himself out of the play and doesn’t always get a good lateral push across the crease.  It is only a game-decider when the Canadiens offense doesn’t produce which was the case on Monday night.

Possession isn’t everything. The Canadiens had an advantage in time of possession and shots but weren’t able to mount consistent pressure nor generate dangerous scoring chances on the league’s last-place team in the goals-against category. Ben Scrivens made 29 saves in a rather uneventful shutout.  Edmonton’s Mark Fayne and Boyd Gordon combined for 11 blocked shots just two shy of the 13 by the entire Canadiens team.

Plus / Minus

▲   Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Brandon Prust

▼   Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais, P.A. Parenteau, Dale Weise, Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Weaver, Tom Gilbert

1.  Ben Scrivens  EDM 
2.  Benoit Pouliot  EDM
3.  Nail Yakupov  EDM

Coach Michel Therrien

• “We spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. We were just having a hard time generating offense. The Oilers blocked a lot of shots, you have to give them credit.”
• “It’s a fine line between winning and losing. We had some terrible turnovers at the end of the first period and they capitalized on it.”

P.K. Subban

• “I don’t think we played the right way from the start. As much as we’re a good team and we’re going to generate opportunities, I don’t think we were playing our hockey game out there. I think we looked like we were playing a different game.
• “I don’t know what we were expecting. We’ve got to use each other out there and play our system. It just seemed that some guys were on their own page.”

Dustin Tokarski

• “I felt good, but obviously not good enough. Scrivens was better, and that was the difference. Any time you can play in front of family, it’s a real treat. I was happy to get the start, but unfortunately we didn’t get the win”

Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens

• “It’s a huge testament to those guys, they’re fearless out there. It’s kind of crazy, I have all the gear, it kind of makes sense for me to block shots, but those guys are laying themselves on the line and putting themselves in danger and we have to respond to that. You can’t talk about this win without mentioning those big block shots in the second and third.”

Oilers coach Dallas Eakins

• “We had a push in the third, but obviously it wasn’t good enough. We weren’t good enough in front of their net. We just couldn’t capitalize on those second chances in front of Price.”