Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price during third period NHL hockey action in Montreal, Tuesday, November 4, 2014.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
What you need to know is that an ornery Jonathan Toews is not someone you want to be dealing with.
At the morning skate preceding the Chicago Blackhawks' evening tilt with the Montreal Canadiens, the Hawks' estimable captain was practising faceoffs with teammate Andrew Shaw.
Toews is one of the elite draw men in the NHL, but Shaw cleaned his clock – to the point where the Team Canada stalwart heaved his stick in the air in frustration.
"I must have won seven or eight in a row – owned him," Shaw said afterward, mischief in his eyes.
Moments later, Toews lined up for a breakaway drill, was stopped and slammed his stick against the boards.
It's been that kind of start for the Winnipeg native and his Hawks, which had earned only one point out of the four games coming in.
Toews was clearly of a mind to take it out on someone, and that someone was the Habs, which was pummelled 5-0 on home own ice.
Toews made a nifty tip to deflect a Duncan Keith shot past his Olympic teammate Carey Price in the first period – Montreal's Alexei Emelin was in the penalty box at the time – and was generally a force to be reckoned with, as befits a leader of his stature.
The Hawks are perennial Stanley Cup favourites – an inevitability when your core includes Toews, Patrick Kane and future Hall of Famer Marian Hossa – but haven't always looked it in the first month.
The squad entered the game 26th in the NHL in goals scored and middle of the pack on special teams.
"You have to stay positive, that's where the emphasis is … we're not worried," Toews said before the game. "It's a tough time, but it will help us in the long run to have gone through it."
The Hawks started tentatively against the Habs, jumped out to a lead against the run of play and then grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck in the second period.
Kris Versteeg scored Chicago's second after a favourable bounce off Rene Bourque's skate, the Hawks clawed back a 19-9 Habs advantage on the shot clock and by the time Brad Richards tipped home the visitors' third at 2 minutes 22 seconds of the third, the Blackhawks were firmly in control.
Toews's magnificent assist on Kane's goal will doubtless have improved his disposition, but by then the result was far beyond doubt (Versteeg's second, with five minutes to play, almost felt superfluous).
It would have been a lot worse were it not for Price.
In the first, he made a miraculous stop on Jeremy Morin, reaching to his right to parry a shot with the inside of his blocker, then followed it up with a spinning lunge to knock the puck – which had fluttered straight up into the air – over the crossbar.
It may not have been his best stop of the night.
In the second period, Price stoned Hossa on a power play, sliding to his right to steal a goal with his paddle; earlier in the same power play he had cheekily knock Toews's helmet off.
There were also shakier moments, mostly related to his puck handling. Call it a metaphor for the Habs' season: The team is doing the hard bits well. Now it's time to focus on the simple stuff.
Though Montreal is still riding high at 8-4-1, it has now lost three in a row and is in an offensive drought that mirrors Chicago's.
The cracks are widening.
Montreal-area native Corey Crawford played a strong game in the Hawks net, but the Habs didn't keep him very busy after the midway point of the game.
The Habs entered the game having had the fourth-fewest power-play opportunities in the NHL through 12 games, and managed to draw an early one on Keith.
But they came up empty. P.K. Subban losing the handle and giving the puck away at the point was the low-light.
In the end, they went 0-for-5 on the power play, which is 26th in the league and shows few signs of improvement.
It happens Montreal has also been assessed more minor penalties than all but one team – Subban leads the league – and they are clearly gaining an unsavoury reputation.
Two Habs players, Mike Weaver and Brandon Prust, were called for embellishment.
That augurs poorly, but the Habs have more pressing issues to resolve when the team plays the second half of a back to back in Buffalo on Wednesday.