How real is the Montreal Canadiens’ strong start?

The Montreal Canadiens are 2-1-0 through their first three games of the season and look to improve on their strong start tonight when they host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Today on Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Habs’ strong start and how real it truly is.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Are the Habs looking really good, or is maybe something being masked because Samuel Montrembeault has a .986 save percentage, how real is this start from the Habs?

Frank Seravalli: I would say that the record and the way they have started is not that true because Montrembeault has covered up a lot of that; he’s allowed one goal on 73 shots. What is real is their ability to score, I have been saying all summer I think their offense and production is close to NHL playoff calibre. But how well can this team defend between now and then and the early answer on that is not very well. So they will need to tighten that up because you can’t have Montembeault save you every game and at some point, you’ll be swimming over your head.

Tyler Yaremchuk: You mentioned defending and I think if you want to be optimistic there are a lot of young pieces on that blueline and that’s something you should look to improve. Lane Hutson, etc. As the year goes on, they should get better defending as a unit.

Frank Seravalli: Think about the trade they had to make for Patrik Laine, had to send out Harris, in a spot where they have so many defensemen and these guys are top turnover the roster pretty quickly. I like the direction they are headed in, it’;s just another year of the learning curve.

You can watch the full show here…