Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien benched, then blamed, star defenseman P.K. Subban for a fall in the closing minutes of Wednesday night's game that led to the Colorado Avalanche's game-winning goal.
Subban was carrying the puck inside the Colorado blue line with just over 2 minutes remaining and the score tied at 2. As Subban sprinted from the left point to the right and tried to turn, he lost an edge and the puck as he fell to the ice.
That led to an odd-man rush the other way and Jarome Iginla's second goal of the game with 2:03 remaining, which stood up for the 3-2 victory.
"We played hard, played a solid game; too bad an individual mistake cost us the game late in the game," Therrien said. "As a coach I thought he could have had a better decision at the blue line ... and he put himself in a tough position."
After the play, Subban, who leads the team in scoring, remained on the bench as the Canadiens tried to get the equalizer. Instead, Andrei Markov and Nathan Beaulieu manned the points.
"Going down the wall I had full possession," Subban said. "I just crossed over and lost an edge. Doesn't happen to me too often, but it sucks that that's the winning goal. If I do that play all over again and don't lose an edge, I probably take it down the wall and create something, but in this case I lost an edge and turned the puck over."
The Canadiens, who have struggled since losing starting goaltender Carey Price to a lower-body injury on Oct. 29, have lost 13 of their past 18 games and are six points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.