Nick Suzuki makes feelings known about Canadiens shortening bench, giving Patrik Laine zero shifts in 3rd period

In the Montreal Canadiens' 3-1 defeat against the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series on Wednesday, head coach Martin St. Louis made a controversial decision to leave some key players on the bench.

Down 2-1 going into the third period, St. Louis cut back the ice time for forwards Patrik Laine, Joel Armia, and Emil Heineman to spark a comeback.

When questioned about the decision after the game, Canadiens' captain Nick Suzuki said:

"I mean, we just kind of shortened the bench there in the third trying to get good opportunities. I thought we still had a lot of energy. It's Marty's call. We know we can roll four lines, but when you're down sometimes you got to make a decision." (0:08)

Montreal relied on its trio of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky during the third period. Suzuki stood out with the highest ice time on the team, clocking nearly 24 minutes.

St. Louis stood by his decision to shorten the bench, saying he believed it gave the team the best shot at turning the game around.

“The guys that I leaned on in the third, I thought they did a great job. As a coach, you make those decisions.” St. Louis said.

“You have this gut feeling, and I felt like the group responded when we shortened the bench, and I felt like it gave us a chance. Unfortunately,we couldn’t get the next goal, but I felt like it was there, just didn’t quite capitalize.”

The Canadiens now go home trailing 2-0 ahead of Game 3.

Game recap: Canadiens 3-2 loss against Capitals

Christian Dvorak scored on a loose puck in front of the net to put Montreal on board first at 1:16 of the second period.

Washington responded quickly — Connor McMichael tied it at 3:47 when his centering pass deflected off David Savard and in. A minute later, Dylan Strome scored on his own rebound to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

McMichael scored an empty-netter goal at the end of the third, sealing a 3-1 victory for Washington.

“These were two games where you can’t buy that experience for our players. We battled, there were moments that hurt us, they cost us the game." St. Louis said.

Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots in the win, while Sam Montembeault had 29 saves.