Canadiens won’t panic after outplaying Golden Knights in loss

The Montreal Canadiens did just about everything they wanted to do Sunday in Game 4 of their Stanley Cup semifinal series against the Golden Knights.

They still didn’t get the result they wanted, but insist they aren’t ready to panic after a 2-1 overtime loss at Belle Centre evened the best-of-seven series.

“You just move forward and think about the positives,” veteran forward Corey Perry said. “The way we played at the start of the game, that’s our style of play. We were quick, we were on pucks. If we keep doing that, we’re just going to keep wearing them down.”

As much as they insist they are looking forward, Perry and his teammates must be lamenting missing out on a golden opportunity to take a 3-1 series lead against the heavily favored Knights.

Paul Byron converted on a breakaway late in the second period to break a scoreless tie in a game the Knights had a difficult time generating many good looks.

Montreal shut down the Knights’ attack and had plenty of chances before and after its goal to have a more substantial lead, but couldn’t solve Knights goaltender Robin Lehner, a surprise starter for Marc-Andre Fleury.

“They’re a strong team,” said assistant coach Luke Richardson, who is running the bench in place of interim coach Dominique Ducharme, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. “Both goalies have a different style but are obviously great goaltenders. Robin’s a big guy that takes up a lot of room, so there’s not a lot of net to look at. I thought he did a tremendous job for them to give them some life and stability. Not that they didn’t have it before, but sometimes you have to make a change to shake things up, and he definitely rose to the occasion.”

Lehner frustrated the Canadiens all night, as Montreal generated 18 high-danger chances to zero for the Knights in regulation.

“I feel bad for the players,” Richardson said. “They really put a lot of effort in and played the right way. They played real hard. We had a few chances to maybe make it 2-0 or 2-1, and we just couldn’t capitalize. But the effort was there both defensively and creating offense. We carried play most of the night, so we’re pretty happy with that and confident with the way we’re playing. But obviously it’s disappointing any time you lose in overtime.”

It’s a feeling the Canadiens aren’t used to. They were 4-0 after regulation in the postseason and 6-0 when leading after two periods.

Both of those streaks ended when Nic Roy created space after a rebound and fired the puck high over a sprawling Carey Price.

Richardson didn’t have to say much to his team. He said he poked his head into the locker room only to hear Perry and captain Shea Weber addressing the players and knew to let that continue.

Their message was the same that his would have been.

“It’s back to business,” Richardson said. “It’s part of the job, and we’re playing well.

“I know it sucks as a player to put that much effort in and come out on the losing end in overtime, but you have to park it. We’ll look at a few things, mostly good, that we did and try to duplicate that.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.