Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher isn't pulling any punches when it comes to the club's 4-8-1 start. Following their 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild Thursday, he called his team's performance at puck drop "unacceptable" and questioned their mental toughness.

"There's no reason to explain it. It's just unacceptable. It should never happen. We've got to be mentally tougher and that's about being sharp when the puck drops. It's disappointing that we haven't learned the lesson yet. You can't afford to fall behind in games like we have and expect to win," Gallagher said.

"It's obviously not the game plan and we've got to find ways to be better from the start," added captain Max Pacioretty.

The Canadiens allowed three goals in the opening period as Carey Price continued to struggle, stopping just 21 shots and allowing five goals on the night.

"It falls on the leaders of this hockey team to step up and do the job. I put that on myself. You've been in those situations long enough, you played a big game last game but it doesn't matter if you come in here tonight and be down 3-0 that early. There's no excuse for it. It's just disappointing," Gallagher said.

Gallagher did score twice Thursday, but noted it's on the team to do a better job preventing scoring chances in front of their netminder.

"It's on us to limit those opportunities [in front Price]. I think they're getting too many chances from prime scoring areas and we've got to be better in front of our goalie," Gallagher said.

The Canadiens will be back in action Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place.