Habs lament 0-4 start: 'It's frustrating'

Just three months removed from the Stanley Cup Final, a winless start to the 2021-22 campaign is hardly what the Montreal Canadiens had in mind.

Not only have the Habs dropped their four opening contests, but they've also scored just three goals total, including Tuesday's 5-0 home loss to the San Jose Sharks.

"It's frustrating," defenseman Jeff Petry said postgame. "We're four games into the year and we played two games like that. Half of our games have been no effort."

The 33-year-old veteran said the Canadiens must focus on the fundamentals to solve their woes.

"I think we need to put in the effort and make sure we're supporting each other," he said. "There's so many times where we're skating away from the puck, we're leaving guys out to dry, we're not playing as a unit of five. We're gonna go nowhere with that."

No matter what the answer is, fans are starting to get antsy. The audience at the Bell Centre booed the team as time ran out Tuesday.

"I've been through that before. You get a couple wins, they'll be back," longtime Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said postgame.

He added: "They're frustrated. The thing about us as players is we have an opportunity to change that and fix what's going on. They don't. They feel like their only voice is to boo us."

Gallagher said that it's key that the Canadiens stick together amid their losing skid.

"A lot of people are going to turn on us," he said. "It's gonna be important in that locker room that we do the right thing, we work to find solutions. It's never easy to get out of these things."

When asked about the possibility of holding a players-only meeting, Petry said, "I think every guy in here knows this is not good enough. If it comes down to that, then we have to do that. We shouldn't be in that situation four games into the year."

The Canadiens will square off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.