PITTSBURGH — Late in the third period of Friday night’s 4-1 loss — just before the Pittsburgh Penguins scored an empty-net goal to seal it — the Canadiens’ official Twitter account sent out short video clip of players winning a puck battle in their own zone along with the words: “On ne lâche pas. Not giving up.”
That could be the team’s new slogan, and while the Canadiens might not be giving up, they certainly look like they’re running out of gas with 22 games left in the season and their playoff hopes on life support after a third straight loss.
“We’ll see with time, right?” coach Claude Julien said after the game about his team’s gas tank. “It’s actually a reality. We don’t want to go there as far as a team. We feel that we want to keep pushing. I know our chances are getting slimmer every game we lose. But we look around and we had a little bit of help like last night (when Toronto lost 3-2 to Dallas) so it gives you hope. At the end of the day, it’s pretty simple: we’re going to have to get on a really good winning streak if we plan on getting back into this hunt.”
The Canadiens are fifth in the Atlantic Division and trail Toronto by seven points for the third and final playoff spot with the Maple Leafs holding two games in hand. The Canadiens trail Columbus by 10 points for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with the Blue Jackets holding one game in hand. There are also three other teams between the Canadiens and Blue Jackets.
The Canadiens will be back in action Saturday when the Dallas Stars visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) .
“There’s nobody feeling sorry for us,” said Brendan Gallagher, who scored the only goal for the Canadiens on a power play. “It’s win a game tomorrow. It’s our job. Our job is to play. There isn’t a single team in the league that’s going to let up and feel sorry. This game’s a lot more fun when you’re winning … let’s get back to that.”
Gallagher’s gas tank will never run out, and his goal was the fifth in nine games since returning from a concussion and his 20th of the season. But 36-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk is now pointless in his last three games and was minus-2 against the Penguins. Jonathan Drouin is pointless in four games since returning from wrist surgery, was minus-2 against the Penguins and is minus-5 since coming back with only four shots on goal. Max Domi was also minus-2, is pointless in his last five games and has only one goal and five assist in his last 20.
“You know what, all we’re concerned about is just getting ready for the next game,” Domi said. “It’s a back-to-back. Dallas is a good team coming in. You can never dwell on the past, right? You can’t change it. All you can do is get ready for the next one and control the future. So we’re not giving up by any means. We’re a team that’s going to stick together, we believe in one another and we’ll work for each other every night. So we’ll continue to do that and we got to find a way to get the next two points.”
The Canadiens aren’t officially out of the playoffs yet, but there’s no gas station in sight.
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