In the Habs’ Room: ‘Compete level just wasn’t there,’ Edmundson says

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The Canadiens’ chances of moving up in the North Division standings took a major hit Wednesday night when they came out flat against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“We had no reason not to feel good out there, but the compete level just wasn’t there,” said defenceman Joel Edmundson, who scored the lone Montreal goal in the 5-1 loss. “We were getting beat on pucks all night and they took advantage of that. It was one of those nights when we just weren’t there, but we have a quick turnaround tomorrow in Toronto.”

After winning three games in a row, the Canadiens had their sights setting on finishing third in the division and avoiding the division-leading Maple Leafs, but it now appears that the games in Toronto Thursday and Saturday will serve as a playoff preview.

Winnipeg defeated Calgary Wednesday night to move two points ahead of Montreal in the battle for third place, with each team having four games to play. Winnipeg has the easier schedule over the final week of the regular season and also has the edge if the teams finish in a dead heat. The good news is the Calgary loss effectively ends the Flames’ hopes of catching Montreal.

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“You obviously don’t want to see a game like (tonight), but the last three games we played well,” Edmundson said.

There’s one problem with that thinking, because those three games all started like the one in Ottawa. The difference is that in the first three games, the Canadiens showed character by rallying in the third period and two of their wins were the result of overtime goals by rookie Cole Caufield.

There was no pushback Wednesday.

“We talked about having a better period in the second, but that didn’t go so well,” Jeff Petry said. “Overall it wasn’t a very good game from the start, the middle and the end.”

Petry said the Canadiens shouldn’t have been surprised by the Senators’ performance.

“We knew they were going to compete and work hard and we weren’t ready to match it,” Petry said. “That can’t happen, especially at this time of the year.”

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There are teams heading into the playoffs in the Canadian division who are grateful they won’t have to face the Senators, who were the first team to be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Ottawa finished the season series against the Canadiens with a 6-3-1 record and the Senators are the hottest team in the division with a 7-1-1 record in their last nine games.

“They have a lot of young talent that work hard and they play within their structure and they have skilled forwards who can make you pay when you’re not on top of your game and tonight was an  example of that,” Petry said.

Petry and coach Dominique Ducharme both noted that while the Canadiens were physically fatigued, they could have compensated with a stronger mental game.

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“We have to find a way to battle through it,” Petry said. “It’s inevitable at this time of year, whether it’s a normal schedule or the schedule we have this year, you’re going to feel that fatigue some nights, but mentally we have to be sharp. There might be guys who didn’t have the legs, but it’s just the mentality of doing the little things you can still do when you’re not at the top of your game.”

“There’s a physical side, but sometimes you can compensate by being sharp mentally but tonight we were not good in all areas,” Ducharme said.

phickey@postmedia.com

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