The Montreal Canadiens elected to skip practice on Saturday after their 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup Playoff series.
With a 3-2 series lead, the players available for comment emphasized the importance of not allowing frustration to get the better of them.
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Canadiens coach Michel Therrien admitted the task is easier said than accomplished.
“We’re all angry after a loss,” Therrien said in French. “It’s normal.”
You could see the frustration when forward Brandon Prust got into a jousting match with Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson in the final minutes of Game 5. The two exchanged slashes before Prust eventually tackled Anderson to the ice.
Senators coach Dave Cameron called Prust’s attack on Anderson “extremely cheap.”
On Saturday afternoon, Therrien suggested Anderson started that exchange by slashing Prust’s ribs and that Anderson chose the wrong player to engage with, given Prust’s penchant for standing up for himself and his teammates.
Forward Dale Weise conceded that whatever frustration the Canadiens felt had subsided after Friday’s game was over.
“You gotta forget about it,” Weise said. “That’s the beautiful thing about playoffs; you forget about it and move on to the next [game]. It’s 3-2, we’re in control here, we’re a confident group, we’re comfortable playing on the road. There’s no reason for us to be frustrated.”
Alternate captain Max Pacioretty was keeping things in perspective as well.
“Surprisingly, I’ve seen a lot better attitude and a lot more optimism than I was expecting,” he said. “We have so many good leaders in this room that it was said so often—we’re up 3-2 in this series, we just gotta try and win one game.”
Anderson and the Senators, however, are standing in the way.
After shutting out the Canadiens in Game 4, Anderson pushed aside 45 of 46 shots in Game 5 to keep the Senators alive. Weise met the idea that Anderson’s given the Senators a mental edge with some levity.
“We’re not a team that scores very much anyways,” Weise said with a chuckle. “So goalies can’t really get in our heads.”
The Canadiens had the NHL’s 20th-ranked offence this season, but still managed to earn the league’s second-best record with 50 wins. They started this series with nine goals in the first three games, but have only scored once in the past two games – both Ottawa wins.
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David Desharnais has been held out of the goal column through five games and the rest of Montreal’s top-six players have only combined for three goals.
“What you can’t see, you can’t stop,” said Desharnais, who then suggested the Canadiens need to take a page out of Ottawa’s book and get to Anderson. “They’re doing a pretty good job against Carey [Price] and we need to do a little bit more of that.”
Therrien believes his leaders will break through.
“I have a lot of confidence in our best players,” Therrien said. “They know they have to be better. They have to be better at 5-on-5 and they know they have to be better on the power play. We have confidence in those guys. They will [be better].”
Therrien added that lineup changes could be made ahead of Game 6, but wouldn’t divulge any details.
The Canadiens will hold an optional skate Sunday morning in Kanata. Game 6 is scheduled for 6:00pm and you can watch on CBC.