Article content

Earning three of a possible four points on the road is a good way to start the season, particularly if you’re without the best goaltender in the National Hockey League.

Two games is a small sample, but they showed the Canadiens are capable of doing a lot of good things, although there are also some problem areas that will need to be addressed as the team goes forward.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canadiens off to good start, but could have been better Back to video

Here are some pluses and minuses:

Plus: The dull, boring defensive-minded Canadiens scored seven goals in two games and if they can maintain, they’ll win more games than they lose. People tend to forget Montreal was among the highest scoring teams in the NHL before Carey Price was injured last season. They had 83 goals in their first 23 games, an average of 3.6 a game.

Minus: The Canadiens scored a power-play goal in the 4-3 shootout loss to Ottawa on Saturday and had another one as Dion Phaneuf was leaving the penalty box. But both goals were scored by Jeff Petry on th second power-play unit. The first unit appeared disorganized with sloppy entries and no inside presence. Associate coach Kirk Muller, the man responsible for the power play, said he doesn’t want a perimeter power play, but that’s what we saw in the first two games.