5 Takeaways From Montreal Canadiens’ Early-Season Play

He came into this season with an already-stellar reputation and was riding high on the 2013-14 successes, as well as being a major reason for the Gold Medal in Sochi at the Winter Olympics. Carey Price suffered a season-ending injury in playoffs, though, and the question remained: was he fully recovered, and could he return to the Carey Price who has earned so much well-deserved praise around the league? The answer is a resounding yes.

Despite the praise and accolades, his "if he sees it, he will stop it" skills, and being square to the puck in every opportunity he gets, Price cannot be the only reason why games are won or lost. No goaltender can win a game alone -- though, Carey has stolen many a game from the opponent. But more than just holding off goals, Price needs a strong team in front of him to help him when rebounds and breakaways may just result in goals against.

When Rene Bourque and Travis Moen were taken out of the lineup, Lars Eller came alive. He has hit his stride lately, scoring and assisting in beautiful goals to contribute to the wins this team is experiencing now. It is clear that Eller -- now on a line with Jiri Sekac -- is thriving. Now, the third line is truly capable of being a full-fledged corps to contend with when they are on the ice.

Plekanec started this season with nine points in his first eigh games, and it was clear his linemates - just as Eller's - were making the difference. The lines have been shuffled from time to time, but when Plekanec is on a line with stronger players -- Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty -- he shows what he is truly capable of doing. This season, Plekanec's wide grin is more the norm than the exception, and it's for a reason.

The beginning of this season had the Montreal Canadiens nicknamed "The Comeback Kids." It became expected that they would bounce back in the second, but more often the third period to win a game they'd been losing for the first 40 minutes. They found out the hard way that this is not a sustainable formula. Once they began playing a full 60 minutes, getting and holding onto a lead, they began to find success without climbing uphill to achieve it.