With several players forced into higher roles than they’re used to, the Montreal Canadiens went into Friday night game on the latter half of a back-to-back, and a fifth game in seven days. The players were surely taxed from both of those situations, but they couldn’t afford to let another result slip away.
It was important to avoid the defensive lapses that had plagued them all through their eight-game losing streak, and that had crept into the start of the game the previous night versus Colorado. A grinding road game was the order of the day to give them a chance to win.