from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

If you’re optimistic, you can look at the standings and point out that the Canadiens are only one winning streak away from a playoff position. They are only two points behind Boston in the race for third place in the Atlantic Division and only five back of Pittsburgh for the final wild-card spot. And, don’t forget, there’s a lot of hockey to be played....

The race with Boston is illusory because the Bruins have four games in hand. As for the wild-card spot, a team has to play .565 hockey to reach the 95 points that secured eighth place last season, and the Canadiens are back under .500 after losing to Edmonton Saturday night. ...

The only player on pace to reach 50 points this season is fourth-liner Daniel Carr, who has seven points in the five games since he was recalled from Laval. There are players who should be embarrassed that Carr, Nicolas Deslauriers and Byron Froese have set the standard for hard work on this team.

The biggest concern has to be Carey Price. A week ago, he was the NHL’s second star of the week and a big reason why the Canadiens were on a five-game win streak. During that run, he had a 1.20 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage. In the current three-game losing streak (0-2-1), Price has revisited the nightmare that was the start of his season. He had a 4.42 goals-against average, an .864 save percentage and was pulled Saturday after giving up four goals on 14 shots.

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