MONTREAL -- It wasn’t the final nail in the Thrashers’ coffin -- but there aren’t many left.
Montreal, which hadn’t scored in more than three games, got first-period goals 11 seconds apart en route to a 3-1 victory over the Thrashers on Tuesday night at the Bell Center.
The Thrashers (32-32-12, 76 points) remain 11th in the Eastern Conference, nine points behind Buffalo for the eighth and final playoff spot with six games remaining. The Thrashers got a little help when Buffalo lost to 10th-place Toronto 4-3 on Tuesday.
The Sabres play host to the New York Rangers on Wednesday, and a regulation win would move the Thrashers to within a point of elimination.
“It’s the way it works this time of season,” Bryan Little said. “Teams are playing desperate. So are we, but if you have a let up like that this time of year, teams are going to take advantage of it.”
Roman Hamrlik opened the scoring for the Canadiens 7:04 into the game when he poked a loose puck past Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. It ended the team’s goal-less drought at 199:01, the Canadiens' first goal since March 20.
Before the Thrashers knew what hit them, they got punched again. Mathieu Darche scored seconds later. It would turn out to be the game-winner.
The scores marked the 24th time this season the Thrashers have allowed an opponent back-to-back goals in under two minutes. Eight times the goals have come in 39 seconds or less.
It’s a statistic that will haunt the Thrashers.
“You need to understand as a team, if you are the line that goes out next after a goal against or a goal for, your job is to get the puck and hold onto it for a while to change the momentum,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said. “You don’t want a team to jump all over you right after you score or they score. You don’t. You have to have the strength of character to go out and want the puck.”
Pavelec, who stopped 28 of 30 shots, said he could have played the puck better on the game-winner. Scott Gomez batted a puck from the air that got caught on the boards behind the Thrashers' net, setting up Darche.
“I tried to play it from the air,” Pavelec said. “He tipped it from the air. It’s my fault. I should have played it harder, but we got no luck there.”
An already injury-depleted Thrashers team took a couple of other hits. Forward Radek Dvorak left in the first period with an upper-body injury. Chris Thorburn was lost for fighting major in the first period. Eric Boulton went out after a misconduct penalty in the second period. Nik Antropov was hobbled after getting hit by a puck in the second, but was forced back into action with Dvorak and Boulton out.
“I was looking down, we were getting a bit thin,” Ramsay said. “As a team, we shortened up our shifts, and I had players playing all over the place. [Ben] Maxwell and [Tim] Stapleton were moving from center and wing.”
Antropov and Boulton teamed for the Thrashers’ goal in the third period. Boulton slid a pass to Antropov after battling into the offensive zone. Antropov wristed a shot past Canadiens goaltender Carey Price with 11:27 remaining for his 14th goal of the season.
The Thrashers failed to convert on a power-play in the third period, their second of the game. They are now 1-for-21 with a man-advantage over the past seven games.
“We had our opportunities but didn’t cash them in,” Ramsay said.
The Canadiens iced the game with Andrei Kostitsyn's empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining. The Thrashers lead the league in empty-net goals allowed.
The Thrashers’ road trip continues Thursday in Philadelphia.
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