After a poor performance in Philadelphia, the Canadian was unable to redeem himself against the worst team in the NHL and even a comeback at the end of the match would not have been enough to forget another difficult evening.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves and the San Jose Sharks ended a 12-game losing streak by beating the Montreal club 3-2 on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens players admitted to being disappointed with their performance in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Flyers on Wednesday. They made too many mistakes again and paid the price against the Sharks.
“We weren’t good enough. It’s as simple as that,” said Canadian defender Mike Matheson, author of two assists.
The Sharks had scored more than two goals only twice during their losing streak. They had been dominated 54-17 in terms of goals scored.
“There is no easy game in this league, no matter the opponent,” said defenseman Kaiden Guhle. We have to get our game back. It’s frustrating. »
Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadian (17-18-6). Samuel Montembeault stopped 32 shots.
“Even if we had managed to win tonight, I wouldn’t have found it to be an example of progress,” said head coach Martin St-Louis. We have an honest group. We need to tighten up our defensive game. We’re going to talk about it. Our execution needs to be better.
“I’ve seen this group play good hockey for long stretches, but it seems like we’re not getting there anymore,” he added. We need to get back to playing good hockey. »
Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nikita Okhotiuk scored for the Sharks (10-29-3), who won for an eighth straight time at the Bell Centre.
Blackwood now has a 4-0-1 career record against the Canadian.
Forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard returned to action for the Canadiens after nursing a lower-body injury that forced him to miss 24 games. Emil Heineman gave him his place in the lineup.
The Canadian will play his next game on Saturday, when the Edmonton Oilers are the visitors at the Bell Centre.
Another difficult evening
The Sharks took advantage of a rare blunder by Jayden Struble to open the scoring 5:19 into the game. Struble recovered a punt in the corner of his territory, but sent the puck awkwardly into the slot. Kunin was passing by and surprised Montembeault.
Blackwood made his best save of the period after about 10 minutes of play. He stretched his left pad to frustrate Sean Monahan after a long crossfield pass from David Savard.
The Sharks goalie was also lucky when Anderson missed the target on a breakaway.
The Sharks widened the gap with 2:35 left in the first period. Zetterlund was forgotten in the slot and he took advantage of a throw from Tomas Hertl from the net to unleash a one-timer that beat Montembeault on the shield side.
The Canadian responded 21 seconds later. Matheson joined Gallagher in the slot and the tenacious winger moved the strings with a one-timer.
On the streak, Matheson amassed a 200e career point in the NHL.
The Sharks bottled up the Canadian in his territory in the first half of the second period. They notably took 12 consecutive shots on goal during the engagement.
Montembeault allowed the Canadian to hang on. He stopped Calen Addison on a breakaway and made a nice save with the shield against Anthony Duclair.
The Canadian in turn pinned the Sharks in their territory in the second half of the period, but Cole Caufield and Harvey-Pinard came up against Blackwood.
The Sharks increased the lead to 3-1 with 3:16 left in the middle period. Okhotiuk advanced into the slot and was forgotten by the Habs’ defensive coverage. Mikaël Granlund made the pass and the Russian defender scored his first goal of the season.
The Canadian shot himself in the foot in the third period, giving the Sharks a four-on-three power play. Nick Suzuki escaped, however, but Blackwood barely made the save by stretching his left leg.
Matheson made things interesting when his shot grazed Anderson before beating Blackwood with 3:34 left on the clock, while Montembeault had been replaced by an extra attacker.
The Canadian’s last efforts, however, were in vain.