A story well known to fans took place on the ice at the Bell Center on Sunday evening.
The Montreal Canadiens found themselves behind in the score, fought well, but lost 2-1 to the Nashville Predators.
The execution was often lacking in the Habs’ transition game during the first two periods. He found himself behind in the points after the first engagement for an 11e times this season (2-7-2).
Colton Sissons scored twice for the Predators (15-13-0). Roman Josi had two assists and Juuse Saros stopped 37 shots.
Jake Evans responded for the Canadian (12-13-3). Jake Allen made 30 saves, but suffered the defeat in his seventh straight start (0-6-1).
The Habs were 0-for-5 on the power play.
Defender David Savard returned to play after a 22-game absence due to a broken left hand. To make room for him in his team, the Canadian gave Mattias Norlinder to the Laval Rocket, while Gustav Lindström was left out.
Forward Michael Pezzetta was also inserted into the Habs lineup in relief of Tanner Pearson, who suffered an upper-body injury Saturday in his team’s 3-2 shootout victory against the Sabres.
The Canadian will play their next game on Wednesday, when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre.
Always the same scenario
The first period was punctuated by six minor penalties called by the referees.
The Canadian finished the engagement 0-for-3. In particular, he was unable to take advantage of 42 seconds of four-on-three play.
For their part, the Predators opened the scoring on a power play at 11:41. Sissons deflected a long shot from Filip Forsberg and Allen saw nothing on the sequence.
At the other end of the ice, Saros got lucky when a long shot from Kaiden Guhle hit the crossbar with about 10 seconds left in the first period.
Sissons returned to the attack at 7:03 of the second period. He took advantage of a generous return from Allen after a powerful strike from Dante Fabbro and was able to shoot into a gaping cage.
The shots on goal were then 21-10 in favor of the visitors.
Even though the execution often left something to be desired, the Canadian did not give up. Joel Armia had a goal disallowed with just under a minute remaining in the second period, as Brendan Gallagher had obstructed Saros.
It was only a postponement for the Habs. Evans scored with 35 seconds left in the second period. His pass to Sean Monahan was intercepted, but Gustav Nyquist returned the puck to Evans in the slot. The Canadian forward scored with a backhand shot.
Evans thus ended a drought of 26 matches.
The Canadian increased the pressure in the third period and threatened the Saros net.
For his part, Allen kept the Canadian in the game by frustrating Cole Smith, who had escaped while outnumbered.
Allen also made a save on a point-blank shot from Yakov Trenin with about three minutes left on the clock.
The Canadian’s last efforts, however, were in vain.