Canadiens in 2-0 hole after hard-fought losses: 'Margin of error is so slim'

The Montreal Canadiens know they're close to beating the Washington Capitals, but Juraj Slafkovsky believes anything short of their very best won't be enough.

"There's always something lacking. We always talk about today was this, tomorrow it's something," said the visibly upset Canadiens forward. "We just can't have that. We gotta have an almost perfect game to win."

Connor McMichael scored twice — including an empty-net goal — as the Capitals hung on for a 3-1 victory in Game 2 at the Capital One Arena on Wednesday night.

Martin St. Louis's group fell down 2-0 in their first-round series and now faces a steep climb, needing wins in four of the next five games to advance.

"Washington is a really good team. They make it hard to attack. They defend really well," the Canadiens head coach said. "We had pockets where we did attack. We didn't capitalize, but we generated."

"The margin of error is so slim."

Christian Dvorak opened the scoring after just over a minute into the second period to give Montreal its first lead of the series, but it was short-lived. McMichael and Dylan Strome struck with back-to-back goals a minute apart in the third and fourth minutes. 

"Just a couple of bad shifts in a row and it cost us," captain Nick Suzuki said.

"We need to go home and regroup and really bear down in these next couple of games at home."

The Canadiens dropped the series opener 3-2 in overtime despite rallying from a two-goal deficit. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record last month, scored his second of the game in the extra period.

Washington dominated the second period Wednesday with an 18-8 shots advantage while imposing the same physical play that propelled them to victory on Monday.

F