"We can't let games like this slip away": $60,800,000 Montreal Canadiens forward doesn't mince his words after disappointing OT loss to Kraken
Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky shared his thoughts after a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
The Kraken took an early lead, going up 2-0 in the first two periods. However, the Canadiens fought back, dominating play and netting four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead.
However, in the later part of the third period, the Canadiens couldn't hold on to their advantage, squandering their two-goal cushion. The Kraken eventually came out on top, with defenseman Brandon Montour scoring the fastest goal ever in overtime.
The Montreal Canadiens' four-day road trip came to an end with a defeat. Slafkovsky pointed out that while four points from a possible eight might be seen as a reasonable return for many teams on a road trip, for the Habs, it was far from satisfactory (1:02 onwards):
"It’s not enough. It’s definitely not enough," Slafkovsky said. "We could have had more for sure. We could have had six, could have had eight, but yeah … four? I don’t know. I’m pissed. It is what it is. We’ve got to win Saturday, and we’ve got to pretty much win every single game until the end of the season.
"It’s a must-win on Saturday. There are no other options. We can’t lose more games like this, especially when we're up two goals — we can’t let games like this slip away," he added.
Juraj Slafkovsky, inked to an eight-year, $60.8 million contract, scored twice, bringing his tally to 14 goals on the season. A regulation win for the Montreal Canadiens would have placed them in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
With 17 games remaining in the regular season, the Habs will look to take each game as do-or-die in hopes of securing a playoff berth. The Habs return home against the Florida Panthers at Bell Centre on Friday.
Brandon Montour shares thoughts on OT goal against the Montreal Canadiens
Brandon Montour made NHL history by scoring four seconds into the extra period, setting the record for the quickest goal from the start of overtime and tying for the fastest from the start of any period in league history.
Chandler Stephenson played a crucial role in the play, winning the faceoff that allowed the puck to reach Montour, who scored by shooting it into the top right corner.
Montour credited the goal to Stephenson, explaining:
"That was Chandler, to be honest. He came up with it,” Montour said via NHL. “I told Chandler just to make sure he was staying back, just in case anything went south. I saw he bumped it up, and we went for it, so it was nice to see.”
The Kraken defenseman contributed four points in the win over the Montreal Canadiens.
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