A winning streak will have to wait.
The Thrashers failed to win a second consecutive game -- something they haven’t done in nearly two months -- after a 3-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday night at Philips Arena.
The Thrashers have not won back-to-back games since Jan. 2 and 5. They could not keep the momentum after Sunday’s dramatic overtime win over Toronto.
“We have to move forward,” goaltender Chris Mason said. “It’s over now. If we dwell on this too long it’s going to be another four- or five-game losing streak. They only thing we can do is forget it. Maybe get a little more desperate -- because we are.”
The Thrashers (26-27-11, 63 points) lost more ground in the playoff race. Carolina and Buffalo, the teams ahead in the Eastern Conference standings, both won. The 10th-place Thrashers now trail the Hurricanes by six points for the eighth and final spot with 18 games remaining.
The Thrashers started March on the wrong foot. They had two wins in February and are 6-12-5 in 2011.
After falling behind on Max Pacioretty’s first-period goal, an unassisted slap shot from the point, a lack of discipline did the Thrashers in.
Anthony Stewart took a cross-checking penalty after the buzzer sounded to end the first period. The forward went after the Canadiens’ Roman Hamrlik and left the Thrashers short-handed to start the second period. It took the Canadiens 34 seconds to capitalize with the game-winner on the lack of judgment as James Wisniewski knocked a rebound past Mason.
“When a guy takes a slap shot off your foot three seconds after the whistle, you’ve got to respond,” Stewart said. “I don’t think it should have been a penalty. I just gave him a little bump. That’s how it goes. This time of year, you’ve got to play smart. They scored on it, so it wasn’t a smart penalty.”
The Thrashers had two chances to clear the zone before the game-winner.
“It’s one of those very frustrating things,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said. “The buzzer definitely went. It wasn’t like, to me, it was close play. So they throw it at the net. You try to teach support. I also try to teach discipline. The game, where it was, you don’t want to be taking that penalty.”
Following the goal, the Canadiens had two goals on only six shots. The Thrashers held a 25-13 shots-on-goal advantage after two periods and trailed 2-0. They ended the game with 41 shots on goal. It marked the fourth consecutive game the Thrashers had more than 40 shots on goal. However, they are 1-2-1 in those games.
“We all feel frustrated,” Ramsay said. “I think we are playing extremely well ... but you still have to score. I think perhaps we need to take more pucks to the net with our big bodies. Take them to the net with their defenseman and cause pileups and bang in some of those rebounds. We talk so much about shooting the puck at the goalie’s feet, and then we shoot it into his midsection.”
The Thrashers finally broke through Canadiens goaltender Cary Price on Nik Antropov’s goal with 5:46 remaining. Antropov scored his 11th goal of the season when he tipped in a pass from Stewart to make it a one-goal game. The Canadiens iced the game with Brian Gionta’s empty-net goal with 45.2 seconds left.
Etc.
Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec did not dress for the second consecutive game with a right wrist injury. Pavelec has worked out, but did not practice, the past two days after suffering the injury in the first period of Friday’s game against Florida. There is no timetable for his return. “It will be a little while before the doctors give him a real go ahead,” Ramsay said. “I hope it’s not too long, but I don’t know for sure.”
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