Montreal Canadiens have what it takes to make a deep play-off run

The Montreal Canadiens’ Tomas Plekanec, left, is an under-appreciated centre who can play defence as well as score. Minas Panagiotakis / AFP

The Montreal Canadiens could not have dreamt a better start to the season.

It was more than three victories. It was winning each of them on the road against national rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators as well as their least favourite side south of the border, the Boston Bruins.

If anyone thought that would put the Canadiens in a celebratory mood, forget it. The defending Atlantic Division champions assumed a ho-hum stance, perhaps more in keeping with their stature as one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams and an early Stanley Cup favourite.

“We know we have a good team,” forward Tomas Plekanec said when reporters enthused over the team’s first-week success.

The Canadiens also know they were expected to go farther in the play-offs last year, when their Stanley Cup run came to an end in the Eastern semi-finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Losing that six-game series brought an abrupt end to high expectations.

There will be no less pressure this season. The Canadiens are still anchored by Carey Price, the winner of the Hart (most valuable player) and Vezina (best goaltender) trophies.

Price’s season was one long highlight reel as he posted league-best numbers for goals allowed at 1.96 per game and save percentage at 93.3.

After Montreal beat Toronto in their opener last week, new Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said that Price’s brilliant play has become the norm for the Canadiens.

“They don’t even know over there that he made huge saves,” Babcock told ESPN.com. “That’s just another day’s work for him.”

Price is often cited as such an anomaly that the Canadiens are able to overcome their metrically measured shortcomings, such as time of possession, shots generated and shots denied.

But that is failing to give the Canadiens proper credit. Defenceman PK Subban is a Norris Trophy winner (2013), a scoring threat (15 goals, 45 assists last year) and a physical defender who has not missed a game in four seasons.

Czech centre Tomas Plekanec is an under-appreciated, two-way player, and Max Pacioretty (37 goals last season) has developed into a dependable, sharpshooting scorer.

Coach Michel Therrien went all-in this year with 21-year-old forward Alex Galchenyuk (20 goals) by teaming him with wingers Lars Eller and Alexander Semin. That line has produced three goals and five assists in three games.

“We’ve been pretty effective when we’ve had our chances,” Eller said.

Besides outscoring their three rivals on the road by a combined 10-4, the Canadiens have yet to trail in a game.

If the idea this season is to become less dependent on Price, so far so good.

They even got some rest for their star, giving rookie goalie Mike Condon his first career start in Game 3 at Ottawa. Condon came up with 20 saves in the 3-1 win and credited the team’s defence for protecting him, which they often fail to do for main man Price, who habitually bails them out of trouble.

Subban insisted the team played its usual style.

“When the back-up goes in, you see teams changing,” Subban said. “We didn’t change anything. What Carey brings, we got from Condon.”

So far, everything seems to be flowing Montreal’s way. As much as they appreciate the impressive start, every one knows what they really want: a more impressive finish.

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