The Montreal Canadiens vow they'll bounce back after having their seven-game winning streak end with 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday.
It's the first time the Canadiens have faced significant adversity in three weeks, when they fell behind 3-1 in the Stanley Cup First Round with a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 on May 25.
Montreal will have the chance to respond when it plays Game 2 of the best-of-7 series at Vegas on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"(There are) things we can get better at and work on," forward Cole Caufield said. "Yeah, we'll be ready for Wednesday. "We'll just have to be ready to bring more energy and more focus."
Caufield was a bright spot for the Canadiens in Game 1, scoring his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal at 12:05 of the second period on the power play to cut it to 2-1. The 20-year-old rookie called the moment "special" with his parents in attendance.
Another bright spot the Canadiens are hoping to carry over the rest of the series was their start. They had the better scoring chances in the first period, when they outshot the Golden Knights 12-8, but fell behind 1-0 on a goal by defenseman Shea Theodore at 9:15.
The goal marked the first time Montreal had trailed in 447:08 dating to Game 4 against the Maple Leafs. It is the second-longest streak in NHL playoff history, behind the streak of 488:38 for the Canadiens in 1960.
"I thought it was a great start," said Carey Price, who made 26 saves. "I thought we came out firing, obviously. They got the momentum going into the second period, but I thought that our first period showed that we can play with them."
However, penalties are an issue coach Dominique Ducharme said needs to be cleaned up.
The Canadiens took three minors in a 6:44 span between the first and second period, siphoning some of the energy they had built in the first.
"I liked our start," Ducharme said. "I thought after the penalties we were a little bit less dangerous or not as good with the puck and not creating as much because we were a little bit away from the puck too much. Our puck support was not as good. That's something we can do much better.
"We'll adjust like we know we can do. We know how to do it. That impacts a lot on the pace of our game."
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