These Montreal Canadiens are the real deal. But is it too much to ask of the fans that they try to behave like adults and wait a few more game before proclaiming that this is a replica of the 1976-77 Habs?
For you youngsters out there, that was the squad that lost only eight games all season, outscored their opponents by 216 goals and won the Stanley Cup, which, in those days, was just business as usual. And they had some decent players, including Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard.
The 2021 Canadiens (5-0-2) have yet to lose a game in regulation and sit in third place overall in Gary Bettmans league. Theyve scored 33 times more than any team in the league which is rather astonishing given the teams difficulty scoring this century.
All of general manager Marc Bergevins off-season moves look like strokes of genius. Did you see Josh Anderson bat that Jesperi Kotkaniemi rebound out of the air into the back of the net in the home opener against the Calgary Flames on Thursday? He makes it look easy. Fellow new kid on the block Tyler Toffoli makes scoring look even easier. Toffoli already has six goals and hes the kind of natural goal scorer weve rarely seen here since the 1990s.