Morning 3-on-3: Are the Canadiens or Blue Jackets a bigger surprise?

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October 21, 2015, 10:18 AM ET
9 min read

— -- HOT OR NOT

Halak   Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders
Halak made 37 saves in a 4-0 shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets, his 37th career shutout, moving him to 2-0 on the season.

Hamilton Dougie Hamilton, Calgary Flames
The Flames' big-ticket offseason acquisition was minus-3 in the 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals and is already minus-6 on the season.

Which is a bigger surprise: the Canadiens' 7-0 start or the Blue Jackets' 0-7 start?

Scott Burnside @ESPN_Burnside:  Tuesday was a great illustration of both the ridiculous (the  Columbus Blue Jackets) and the sublime (the Montreal Canadiens) aspects of this early season. So which is the bigger story? Both are, in their own way, inexplicable. As good as we know Carey Price to be, the fact that he has allowed just six goals in six games is still mind-boggling. The Blue Jackets aren't far off, giving up six goals a night. OK, it's not quite that bad, but Columbus has yet to play a game in which they have allowed less than four goals. Four. That's even more mind-boggling. For the Habs moving forward, it will be about continuing to put pressure on the other teams in the Atlantic Division and the entire Eastern Conference. For Columbus, it's not overstating things to suggest that this season is already hanging in the balance, and it doesn't get any easier with a four-game road trip coming up and coach Todd Richards being fired Wednesday morning (he will be replaced by John Tortorella). Actually, scratch that. Maybe the best thing that could happen to a team that's a complete mess after starting the season with such hope and expectation is to get out of town. Pretty sure Blue Jackets fans feel that way.

Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun:  There's no concern about peaking too early in a salary-cap league, so you can forget that line of thinking after the Canadiens' 3-0 statement win over the talented St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. The gap between the top 10 teams on each side of the bracket is getting smaller by the year as parity continues to establish itself more than a decade after the advent of the salary cap. "It's all about getting in. After that, it's about injuries and matchups," one NHL GM told me Tuesday. "There's so little separating the top 20 teams in the league." Thus the Habs will bank their 14 early points, thank you very much, and keep them for a rainy day later in the season when injuries or poor form hit. The Blue Jackets, however, can only dream about debating the merits of peaking too early. Mercy. I felt for them Tuesday night, because you saw their work ethic as they outshot the Islanders 37-29 -- including 12-5 in the third period -- but fell by a 4-0 score to extend their nightmare start to 0-7-0 overall. It was a 1-0 game through 40 minutes before the Isles put it away in the third period. So what happens now that Tortorella is behind the bench? Can the Jackets make a trade to help him? Other teams indicated this week that Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has been trying to manufacture a trade. On opening night, Columbus had a 2-1 lead over the New York Rangers in the third period, then New York scored three times late to stun the Blue Jackets. They never recovered, and their collapse is the bigger story.

Craig Custance @CraigCustance:  As good as Montreal has been, I think we all had them picked as a playoff team. Price is great, but at some point that team even-strength save percentage will start to come down from the astronomical .966 it's at now. When that happens, things will start to even out for the Canadiens. That said, they do look like they're absolutely for real this season, which is a credit to the work Marc Bergevin has done since taking over as general manager. The Blue Jackets are the bigger surprise for me, by a long shot. They're not just losing, they're getting their doors blown off. They have a minus-21 goal differential right now. Only one other team (Calgary) is in double digits in that category. Even watching Richards' final press conference after the game, you could feel the depression coming from that room. They lost by four goals, and his conclusion was that "we were better." And he was right! That's how bad it's been in Columbus. Amazing.

Joe McDonald @ESPNJoeMac:  I had to sleep on this one. I've had countless players in the past tell me they never want their team peaking too early. The best-case scenario is for a team to be playing its best hockey down the homestretch of the regular season so it can sprint into the playoffs. In the case of the Canadiens, however, perfection is bliss. Price made 38 saves against the Blues, and even when things level off, the Canadiens have shown they're more than just goaltending. As well as things are going for the record-setting Canadiens, the season is sinking just as quickly for the Jackets. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jackets can rebound, but I'm even more intrigued to see how long the Canadiens can sustain this type of success.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

? Pittsburgh Penguins fans can breathe a bit easier today. Captain Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the season. His power-play tally gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead, and Pittsburgh eventually finished with a 3-2 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers. After beginning the season 0-3-0, the Penguins have won three straight.

? Thanks to the new 3-on-3 overtime format, the New Jersey Devils improved to 2-3-1 this season with a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Defenseman Adam Larsson provided the game-winning goal for New Jersey, while Arizona rookie Anthony Duclair notched his fifth goal of the season.

? The Dallas Stars continue to roll. Not only did Jamie Benn register a goal and an assist to help the Stars to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, goaltender Antti Niemi also made 34 saves en route to victory. Benn leads the league with six goals and is tied for the league lead with 10 points.

? Despite a 5-4 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators, the Tampa Bay Lightning received a boost when defenseman Victor Hedman returned to the lineup after missing one game due to a concussion. He assisted on Steven Stamkos' power-play goal to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period.