MONTREAL — Matt Coronato wound up and delivered two gut punches to the Montreal Canadiens, scoring late in the third and early in overtime to give his Calgary Flames a comeback win.

Ouch.

It might seem harsh to suggest the Canadiens need to experience this pain right now — after an eighth loss in their last 10 games and a fourth in a row — but you certainly don’t want them basking in the moral victory of a strong performance that ultimately wasn’t rewarded.

This is part of the process. It’s an important part that hopefully leads the Canadiens to a better place than the one they were in over the two-and-a-half seasons prior to this one — when the results were secondary.

The Canadiens could’ve had one on their side against the Flames on this night had they capitalized on at least one of the 17 shots they took in a first period they largely dominated. They would’ve won this game had the goal they scored with six minutes left held up instead of being overturned for offsides. They should’ve closed it down after defending well enough for 57 minutes.

But it’s better the Canadiens don’t get bogged down in could’ve, would’ve, should’ve.

If they’re going to move forward, they’re going to need to digest this game differently.

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Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis had a word for how he’d like his players to feel about it.

“Hungry,” he said. “I want them to leave this game hungry. If I was in their shoes, I’d wish we played tomorrow. That’s what I would want to feel like. That’s what I want it to be like.”

That’s what it must be like, so the Canadiens are driven to play at least as well and come out on the winning side against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

The Canadiens did a lot of good against the Flames. Calgary goaltender Dustin Wolf was the biggest reason Montreal didn’t take a healthy lead — or a lead at all — into the first intermission. When the Canadiens bent in the second period, they certainly didn’t break.

And even if the Canadiens had some miscues that led to Coronato’s first hook into their abdomen, it wasn’t as if they gave this game away like they did in gifting the Washington Capitals a victory five days ago.

St. Louis repeated several times that night the Canadiens threw up all over themselves.

On Tuesday, after the heartbreaker against the Flames, he said, “We didn’t throw up on ourselves tonight, but still feel a little sick to our stomachs.”

Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

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Granted, it makes the climb the Canadiens are hoping to make in the standings a little steeper. But it also keeps them searching for a better version of themselves.

With urgency.

“Right now, we’re obviously fighting, we’re searching for results, we’re working hard, it’s just not easy,” said Brendan Gallagher, who scored one goal and had one disallowed. “Tough league. But once we figure it out, we’ll be better off. Just don’t want to let too much time go by.”

There may be 69 games left in the season, but Gallagher knows the Canadiens can’t waste too many more opportunities right now to get themselves back in the mix.

It’s why he wasn’t about to start singing their praises after a game that was a clear step in the right direction for all of them.

Sure, Gallagher liked several aspects of his team’s game, including the engagement up and down the lineup, and the way Samuel Montembeault played to give the Canadiens a chance to bust their slump.

But he didn't stand in the locker room after talking like someone who was satisfied by a good effort.

“I think there’s still some areas where we need to get better, we need to improve, and it’s been long enough into the year now that we can hold ourselves accountable to that standard,” Gallagher said. “It’s just a matter of it being a slim margin between winning and losing in this league, and you saw that tonight. Through 40 I thought the game probably deserved to be tied, and when you have a lead in the third at home, it should be a situation where you’re able to lock it down.”

The Canadiens should be disappointed they didn’t, even if Coronato deserves some of the credit for making them feel that way.

Canadiens not satisfied after good effort still falls short

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