Canadiens Fall To 14th With Loss To Sabres

Jan 31, 2012; Montreal, QC, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes a save against Buffalo Sabres right wing Drew Stafford (21) as defenseman Raphael Diaz (61) defends during the second period at the Bell Center. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-US PRESSWIRE

Outshot, out-chanced and outworked. There aren’t many positives from tonight’s “performance” from the Habs. Outshot 39-28, and 19-7 alone in the second period, the Canadiens lost 3-1 to the Sabres tonight. With the loss, the Canadiens fall to 14th place in the Conference and fall further behind the playoff race. It also doesn’t help that every other team in front of them [and behind them!] managed to either pick up a win or a point tonight.

But then again, on the bright side, this game was Cole-Desharnais-Pacioretty and Price versus the Sabres! Could the Habs had fared better if the rest of the team had showed up?

Max Pacioretty opened the scoring on a great individual effort at 4:09 of the first. He took a hard check from Tyler Myers in the Sabres zone, and found himself behind the play when the puck went the other way. He stole the puck away at the Canadiens’ blue line and broke in alone on Ryan Miller. Miller made the first stop but couldn’t get anything on Pacioretty‘s rebound. And just like that, 1-0 on Pacioretty‘s 18th of the season. The only assist went to Josh Gorges.

After that, it was all Sabres. They hit at least 3 posts, while the Habs hit two. They only mustered 15 shots after two periods, but made a too-little-too-late push in the 3rd period. Ville Leino would score his 4th of the season in the second to tie it up, with Paul Gaustad scoring his 5th in the third to pull ahead. Patrick Kaleta would score an empty netter to ice a relatively easy victory over a listless Canadiens squad.

The powerplay went 0-1 for one, but it was absolutely horrendous nonetheless. They couldn’t get set up whatsoever. And this is against a Sabres team that has been rather pitiful on the road.

The only positives are the same positives that appear day in, day out. The play of Cole-Pacioretty-Desharnais, who produced the Habs only goal as well as a bunch of chances. The second was the play of Carey Price, who again was stellar, stopping 38 out of 40 shots. Also, a play to remember was the huge PK effort by Alexei Emelin, with a huge hit on Jason Pominville, then a huge sliding block to rob him of a sure goal.

The negatives? Well let’s just say everything else. The Canadiens were inconsistent, out-shot widely and more important out-chanced. Only in the third period was there any sense of urgency at all in the play, and by then it was too little too late. You gotta wonder if they even really believe in their chances of getting a post-season berth at this point. Won’t happen with efforts like this one.