Blown lead, questionable coaching decisions, and more: 3 reasons why Montreal Canadiens lost 3-2 in OT against Calgary Flames 

The Montreal Canadiens lost a tight 3-2 overtime game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night at Bell Centre.

Connor Zary opened the scoring for the Flames 4:20 into the second period, while Brendan Gallagher netted a power-play goal and Joel Armia added a shorthanded goal to give the Habs a 2-1 lead early in the third.

Matt Coronato, who helped the Flames force overtime, scored seven seconds into overtime to give the Calgary the win.

Here are three reasons why the Montreal Canadiens lost against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

3 reasons why Montreal Canadiens lost against Calgary Flames in overtime

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#1. The Flames carried the offense

The Calgary Flames controlled the offensive play throughout the game, outshooting the Habs 36-23. The Flames also played a more physical style, finishing with 29 hits to Montreal's 25.

Although the Habs’ specials teams picked up the slack on Tuesday night, their inability to generate offense at even strength ultimately derailed their chances of skating away with the win.

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#2. The Habs overly relied on three defensemen

Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis made the decision to heavily rely on his top three defensemen.

Mike Matherson logged over 26 minutes, Kaiden Guhle over 23 and Lane Hutson over 21. Meanwhile, David Savard logged just over 17 minutes, Jayden Struble 14 and Arber Xhekaj just over 11:30.

This lack of balance led to fatigue, particularly for the top blueliners. As the game wore on, the Canadiens struggled, blowing their lead late in the third and looking gassed in overtime.

In particular, Matheson looked sluggish and unable to react quickly enough in the overtime goal. The botched faceoff left Nick Suzuki without his stick, and instead of re-engaging in the play, he floated into his own zone,

As for Matheson, the only thing he could do was attempt to disrupt the pass during the 2-on-1 rush. While he managed to break it up, Coronato beat Samuel Montembeault with a shot Montembeault should have saved.

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#3. The Canadiens squandered their lead

The Canadiens had battled hard to hold onto a 2-1 lead late into the third. However, the Habs’ fatigued defensive group could not hold on, giving up the tying goal at 17:14 of the third period.

The Habs managed to hold on to the tie, but almost immediately after the overtime faceoff, they surrendered the game-winning goal.

The Canadiens will be back in action on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, looking to end a four-game skid.