from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

Twenty-four hours after outscoring the Winnipeg Jets 7-4, the Canadiens found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 count against the Minnesota Wild Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center.

What had been a tight-checking game got away from the Canadiens in a 40-second span in the second period as the Wild scored twice to take a 3-0 lead.

“That was the backbreaker,” said Carey Price, who faced only 24 shots. “It’s tough to come back from a 3-0 lead against a team like that. They played very well structurally and you have to tip your hat to them. We didn’t generate much offensively and they capitalized on just about every chance they had. That pretty well sums it up,”

The Wild took control of the game when Eric Staal scored at 6:35 and Jordan Schroeder made it 3-0 at 7:14. Staal took advantage of a sloppy line change and went in alone on Price.

Minnesota added another goal late in the second period for a 4-0 lead and there was some surprise when the goaltender came out for the third period. But Price decided to take one for the team, the same way backup Al Montoya did when he suffered through a 10-0 shelling in Columbus on Nov. 4.

“I’d rather just stick it out,” said Price. “Nobody else has the opportunity to get pulled from a game.”

Coach Michel Therrien said Price was given the chance to pack it in and he rejected the idea.

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