Sixteen games into the Montreal Canadiens’ season, the team sits in a playoff spot, among the top three seeds in a tightly contested Atlantic Division. The 8-5-3 record is respectable for a team that wasn’t expected to make much noise after the debacle of 2017-18.
In a season where over half of the teams are scoring at least three goals per game (18, compared to 13 clubs that held that pace until the end of last year), Montreal ranks near the bottom third in goals against per contest, with 51 surrendered in their 16 games. That position is actually an improvement for a largely unchanged defence corps that slotted 25th in that category one year ago.