from Julian McKenzie at the Montreal Gazette,

At this time last month, the Montreal Canadiens were scoring goals (nearly) at will five games in. The fewest they had scored in a game was three.

Montreal’s playing style looked electric. They showed off their speed, they played with aggression, and it looked as if this roster might be a formidable opponent in the North Division, and beyond.

Fine, the jury might still have been out on how they fared against the rest of the league but they at least looked promising.

They looked that way until they first came across the Ottawa Senators at the beginning of the month.

Since then, the Canadiens have won just twice over their last seven games. In that same time span, the Canadiens have started to regress into a team many wouldn’t like to remember: the 2019-20 Canadiens pre-pandemic.

A team that can fire pucks towards the goal, but not turn those opportunities into goals. A team whose special teams don’t inspire much confidence. A team whose defence makes mistakes at inconvenient times. A team that wastes solid goaltending performances.

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