Montreal Canadiens: Another Hot Start to the Season

The Montreal Canadiens had an impressive start to their season last year, but may find it more difficult to do it again this time around.

It’s not about how you start, but how you finish. That’s true for a lot of things, even in the NHL. The goal of the beginning of every season for any team is to finish the season hoisting the Stanley Cup. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a great start to your season. The Montreal Canadiens know a thing or two about that.

Last season couldn’t have started better for the Canadiens. After their first 10 games, they had nine wins and one shootout loss. If that was any indicator of how the rest of the season would go, the Habs ended up winning the Atlantic Division.

This season will have it’s fair share of new additions. The question among Habs fans is whether they can start the same way this year.

Related Story: Improving the Team's Goal Statistics

The 2016-2017 Start

Montreal started their season facing (in order):

• Buffalo Sabres: 4-1 Win
• Ottawa Senators: 3-4 SO Loss
• Pittsburgh Penguins: 4-0 Win
• Arizona Coyotes: 5-2 Win
• Boston Bruins: 4-2 Win
• Philadelphia Flyers: 3-1 Win
• New York Islanders: 3-2 Win
• Tampa Bay Lightning: 3-1 Win
• Toronto Maple Leafs: 2-1 Win
• Vancouver Canucks: 2-0 Win

For the longest time, the Montreal Canadiens were the only team to not have a regulation loss. Additionally, they were the first team to reach 20-points because of the start they had.

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Although the hot streak was fun to experience, it was also concerning. Save for the Pittsburgh and Arizona games, the Canadiens didn’t make it easy on themselves. In fact they were out-shot and out-chanced for a lot of those games. In particular the game against the Senators where the shots were 42-21.

What will surprise most is that Al Montoya was a big part of it. He played three of the first five games after Carey Price was out with the flu. Getting those wins as a back-up is one thing, but to shutout the reigning Stanley Cup champions is impressive.

Can They Do it Again?

Starting 4-0-1 may be possible, but the extra five wins will be hard to get. That has nothing to do with the changes the Montreal Canadiens made over the offseason. It’s more because of how the schedule will play out for them this season.

The Habs’ first 10 games are against:

• Buffalo Sabres
• Washington Capitals
• New York Rangers
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Toronto Maple Leafs
• San Jose Sharks
• Los Angeles Kings
• Anaheim Ducks
• Florida Panthers
• Los Angeles Kings

Right off the bat, you can see that the quality of competition is much higher. Last season’s schedule had the Canadiens go up against four guaranteed playoff contenders, while the rest were positively maybes. This season, Montreal will face one team who is very unlikely to make the playoffs in Buffalo.

To make things even harder, the California road trip is happening a lot earlier than usual. Although the three California teams aren’t as threatening as they were in the past, they are still good teams and will make it difficult to take points from.

However, the Canadiens should still be able to play .500 hockey during this stretch. The team wont have to rely on goaltending as much as they did last season with Claude Julien‘s system being put into work. Realistically, Montreal should be able to start off the year with a record of 5-2-3 or something similar to it.

Next: 7 Games Habs Fans Need to Watch

Do you think the Habs can get to another hot start to their season? What would be their record? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!