The Montreal Canadiens got away from playing a structured, disciplined game and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights at the Bell Centre.

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 5 vs Vegas Golden Knights 6 | Final

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards

15 Alex Newhook - 14 Nick Suzuki - 17 Josh Anderson
22 Cole Caufield - 28 Christian Dvorak - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
70 Tanner Pearson - 91 Sean Monahan - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 71 Jake Evans - 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 52 Justin Barron
21 Kaiden Guhle - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
72 Arber Xhekaj - 27 Gustav Lindstrom

Goaltenders

Starter: 30 Cayden Primeau 
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Sam Montembeault
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), David Savard (hand), Jordan Harris (upper body), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body)

Game Report

Unprepared. It's been a theme for the Montreal Canadiens this season. Coming into this game against Vegas could the team have been overconfident given that they took the reigning Stanley Cup camps to a shootout in October?

"Maybe we thought it might be a little bit easier as we thought we played pretty well against them before," said Jake Evans. "(We) can't think that we're too good to do all the small plays."

The Canadiens got steamrolled in the opening period, outshot 18-6, but somehow cashed in a little puck luck and took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. Having learned their lesson, did Montreal make adjustments ahead of the second period to play a more responsible game?

Nope! Buoyed by their good fortune in the first, the Canadiens tried to play a run-and-gun style alongside the Knights. And how did that turn out? Of the six goals scored in the middle frame, the Habs got two, both from the stick of Jesse Ylonen.

"You have to be honest. We played with fire and got burned," explained head coach Marty St. Louis. 

Penalties were an issue for the Habs in the third period, making all of the trips to the box in the frame. Brendan Gallagher's double minor for high-sticking was the most costly. Vegas scored twice on the power play to earn the victory.

"It was a big part of the game. It can't happen," said St. Louis when asked about Gallagher's penalty late in the third period.

Game Statistics

Canadiens (7-8-2)
Shots: 28
Face-off %: 51.5
Power play: 0/3
Penalty minutes: 14
Hits: 18
Blocks: 26

Golden Knights (13-3-1)
Shots: 42
Face-off %: 48.5
Power play: 3/7
Penalty minutes: 6
Hits: 24
Blocks: 13

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Newhook (4), Kovacevic (1)
2nd period: Ylonen (2), Ylonen (3)
3rd period: Barron (4)
OT: --
SO: --

Golden Knights Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Howden (3), McNabb (1), Marchessault (7), Theodore (4)-PPG
3rd period: Eichel (7)-PPG, Stone (5)-PPG
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Primeau (L) 1-2-0
VGK: Hill (W) 8-1-1

Canadiens Player of the Game

Jesse Ylonen - Ylonen scored twice in the second period, including on a breakaway. Ylonen led Canadiens forwards with four shots on goal but inexplicably was given just 7:22 of ice time.

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R3DplpXM2Q[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Martin St. Louis

“Tonight we deserved what we got."

Nick Suzuki

"The score was pretty tight at the end, but I don’t think we played well enough to beat that team. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot, turning the puck over a lot in the first period. You can’t do that against a team like that. They took full advantage. They just didn’t score in the first. They won the Cup for a reason."

Cayden Primeau

"I read the game well and I’m in the right place, which is the most important thing. I feel like my feet are in the right place the majority of the time."

Game Preview

Cayden Primeau Starts for the Canadiens | PREVIEW: VGK @ MTL

Up Next

The Canadiens make a quick one game road trip as they visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. Puck drop is 7 pm ET.

Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.