Paul Byron was also quick to identify the Canadiens' lack of success in that particular department as a primary reason why things when sour in the first of seven straight games away from the friendly confines of the Bell Centre.
"When you start with possession all the time, it helps. Having the puck, it's something we tried to address. Our centers want to win faceoffs and our wingers want to help them out, but it was just one of those nights where we just couldn't get the puck back to our guys and try and create off that," noted Byron, who was playing in front of family and friends aplenty in his hometown. "When you're forechecking the whole time, it's tough to have the energy to get the puck back and go down and create offense."
Hence, the Canadiens' inability to ultimately find a way to solve Senators starter Craig Anderson, who turned aside all 28 shots he faced to help Ottawa win its second straight game.
"It's obvious that we didn't create enough scoring chances. Games like these, with these types of conditions, you have to have a blue-collar attitude and we didn't have enough of a blue-collar attitude. We spent the majority of the game working from the outside," mentioned Julien. "We didn't manage to get in between the dots to create anything."