from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

The San Jose Sharks didn’t surprise the Canadiens with their fast start Tuesday night, but coach Dominique Ducharme said his team didn’t handle the situation well.

“We knew they play fast and have lots of puck support and they throw everything at the net,” Ducharme said after the visitors crushed the Canadiens 5-0. “We needed to box out, we needed to be good coming back killing plays and we got beat on those plays. It’s a lack of execution, a lack of engagement on certain plays that cost us and that was the case in the first period.”

The Sharks scored twice in the first 3:36 of the game and, given the lack of production from the Montreal offence, the game was effectively over.

Brendan Gallagher hit the nail on the head when he said there wasn’t just one thing that needs to be corrected. The Canadiens are 0-4 to start the season, they have scored only three goals, are 0-for-13 on the power play and have given up seven power-play goals.

“A lot of people are going to turn on us and it’s important in that locker room that we don’t,” Gallagher said. “We have to do the right things to find solutions. It’s never easy to get out of those things. It’s disappointing that it’s happening in the very beginning of the year, but this is when you’re challenged. You want to test yourself in tough situations and that’s where we are now.”

There were signs that the fans were turning on the Canadiens before the loss. The announced attendance was 16,095, more than 5,000 short of capacity.

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Game highlights are below.