MONTREAL - Max Pacioretty was visibly upset at the end of the Canadiens’ 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, but he said his anger was not related to anything Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad might have said in the waning moments of the game.

“You guys make too much of these things; it’s not really a story,” Pacioretty said. “I was upset because we lost the game.”

For those who came in late, Gaustad made a reference to the Zdeno Chara hit on Pacioretty that brought his 2010-11 season to a premature halt. The war of words escalated when several Canadiens wondered why Gaustad didn’t come to the defence of Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller when he was run over by Boston’s Milan Lucic earlier this season.

“You guys should be down on the ice; you hear worse than that all the time,” said Pacioretty, who admitted that he has engaged in some trash talk of his own.

That wasn’t the only admission Pacioretty made as the Canadiens prepared to travel to Newark where they will face the New Jersey Devils Thursday night (7 p.m., RDS, TSN Radio-990). While he scored the Canadiens’ lone goal and accounted for a game-high eight shots on goal, he included himself in the group of players who came up short against the Sabres.

“When I’m playing my game, I’m driving to the net and finding space in front of the net, and I wasn’t always doing that,” he said.

And Pacioretty said a lack of intensity may have led to a missed opportunity to tie the game in the third period.

“(Tomas) Kaberle put a perfect pass on my stick,” he explained. “Maybe if I bear down on that a little more, I get the tying goal.”

Head coach Randy Cunneyworth is willing to cut Pacioretty and linemates David Desharnais and Erik Cole some slack because they understand what they have to do to be successful. He said when they get a step on a defender, they take advantage of it and go hard to the net.

“When you do that, you get chances and you draw penalties, which is one thing we have to do more of,” Cunneyworth said. “And we need more guys to do it. These aren’t the only guys we have with speed.”

There will be at least one lineup change Thursday night. Andreas Engqvist was returned to Hamilton after Tuesday’s game and Louis Leblanc joined the team Wednesday night in New Jersey. Cunneyworth said he wasn’t sure whether Leblanc would play centre or on the wing, but he said he expected the 2009 first-round draft choice to provide a boost.

“He’s been playing well in Hamilton and he showed when he was up here earlier, that he’s a good two-way hockey player,” Cunneyworth said.

The Canadiens are in desperate need of points in they hope to stay in the playoff race. The loss Tuesday dropped the Canadiens nine points behind eighth-place Toronto and they are 10 points back of seventh-place New Jersey.

The Devils have some personnel issues of their own with centres Travis Zajac and Adam Henrique both out with injuries. That means that Dainus Zubrus, a natural right winger, will centre the top line with Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise.

New Jersey welcomed defenceman Adam Greene back to the lineup for Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout win over the Rangers, but Henrik Tallinder, the workhorse of the Devils’ defence, is out for 6-8 weeks.

The Canadiens are back at the Bell Centre for the traditional Super Bowl weekend matinees. They play the Washington Capitals Saturday and the Winnipeg Jets Sunday, with both games scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.

phickey@montrealgazette.com