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One game into the Habs’ seemingly endless National Hockey League season and Montreal Canadiens fans are already losing their cool. By Friday morning, the debate over our beloved team was in overdrive with the battle lines clearly drawn.

And so it begins. The best discussion in town is back — big time. And, as is always the case, there is a sharp division between the two camps in the Habs Nation. The rose-coloured-glasses crew looked at the game Thursday night at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, which Les Boys won 3-2 in a shootout, and saw another Cup in the offing. The grumblers — some call them haters — saw something else altogether. They saw a team with a blue line as porous as a big slice of Swiss cheese, forwards who still have trouble scoring and a team that is only able to eke out victories thanks to the miraculous play of the chap who wears No. 31.

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A buddy of mine texted me after two periods to say he was on a train back from Toronto and wasn’t watching the game, but asked if I could confirm that the Habs had really given up 29 shots in the first two periods. I told him that was indeed true and by the time the game ended, Montreal had allowed a whopping 45 shots in Carey Price’s direction. That shot total is fodder for the critics who don’t think this team is the real deal.