by Josh Saunders, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: the 2016-2017 season is finally here and we have the Montreal Canadiens playing meaningful hockey games again. Now that the first two games of the season are in the books, there are some happenings that I would like to bring to your attention. Although two games is a bit of a terrible sample size and it would be a bit unfair to suggest any of these mentioned are trends, here are a few observations.

1.  Getting points without Carey Price

If I would have told you before the season began that the Habs would play their first two regular season games without Carey Price and go 1-0-0-1 against two of their division rivals, you probably would have had a bit of a panic attack. Not because of the record (which is more than good in itself), but because of the fact that we have to deal with Carey Price missing more time in a Habs uniform. But despite the fact that a really bad bout of the flu has sidelined the star goaltender for the time being, newly minted back-up Al Montoya has stepped up and filled in admirably in his absence.

Montoya has stopped 65 out of 69 shots en route to a .942 save percentage in his first two games with the Habs, giving the Canadiens at least a chance to win both games. No offense to the recently waived Mike Condon, but having a back-up that inspires confidence in both the team and the fanbase is a huge breath of fresh air, and we can only hope it continues as the season rolls along. I don’t know if he’d be able to shoulder a load similar to what Condon had to endure last year when Carey Price went down, but hopefully Carey makes a speedy recovery and we never have to find that out.

2.  Scoring goals

It may have only been two games, but unlike my beloved Blue Jays, the Habs haven’t had trouble scoring in their first two games, racking seven goals so far. This is an extremely encouraging sign for a team that was much maligned last year with offense, finishing 16^th overall in the NHL in both goals for (216) and goals for/per game (2.63.)

What’s more encouraging should be the fact that they are once again scoring by committee, with production coming from five different players who are spread out throughout the line up. Leading the way with two goals apiece are Brendan Gallagher and Jeff Petry. Torrey Mitchell, Andrew Shaw, and rookie Artturi Lehkonen each chipping in with one. Considering that players who are expected to carry the load offensively, such Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Alexander Radulov, and Shea Weber have yet to find the back of the net yet, it is good to see that everyone is willing to step up and fill in as needed.

Two of the goals scored in Ottawa on Saturday night were on the power-play, something that was also a bit of a rare occurrence last season when the Canadiens finished a woeful 25^th in the NHL with a power-play percentage of 16.2. This year’s power-play has looked much different than last season so far, with the Canadiens electing to go with a 1-3-1 umbrella approach and looking dangerous doing so.

I imagine this is mostly to do with the return of associate coach Kirk Muller’s change in tactics, but it appears that the personnel on both power-play units have really bought into what the coaching staff wants them to do. If the powqer-play can be even a little better than it was last year for the Canadiens, it will go a long way in bringing them back to the playoffs.

3.  Vets over kids

Despite being just two games into the season, this development is something that has surprised me the least: Michel Therrien choosing to go with less talented veteran players who he trusts over more skilled rookie players. This was evident even before the game against Ottawa on Saturday night when he chose to sit down young rookie rearguard Mikhail Sergachev for Greg Pateryn.

While it is true that Sergachev looked every bit his age against the Sabres, looking nervous and sometimes choosing to take risks rather than make the safe play, sitting him down for the foreseeable future does nothing to help him or the Canadiens. If you don’t think he can hang in the NHL, the best thing would be to send him back to Windsor of the OHL where he can play 25 minutes a game and further develop into a top-pairing defenseman.

Another puzzling decision on the part of Michel Therrien was electing to move Paul Byron to the second line in favour of rookie winger Artturi Lehkonen for much of the Ottawa game. Although Lehkonen ended up popping in his first NHL goal as a part of the fourth line, Paul Byron finished the night a minus-3. When the season started, I thought Therrien had finally seen the light as was choosing to go with the most talented line-up available, regardless of age. But it only took two games to show that he is still very much the same old Therrien, the same coach who takes forever to begin showing trust in younger players.

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So there you have it. With only two games played, the Canadiens have already looked and played like a much different group than last season. They’re scoring, performing decent on the power-play, and winning games without their star goaltender Carey Price. The only worrying thing that has emerged so far is Therrien’s continued use of veteran players over rookies, but this is something that has happened his entire tenure here and it doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. If the Canadiens can keep the other two “trends” going when Carey Price comes back, then the sky really is the limit to where they could potentially finish this season. Two games may be a terrible sample size, but three of a possible four points looks good any way you spin it.