The grades have been tallied from the first quarter and we present our first quarter report cards for the forwards, with Montreal’s top young duo leading the way.

After falling to Ottawa on Wednesday, the Habs were back in action Thursday as they hosted the Ducks. Montreal played like a team that looked tired for most of the night and a late spark in the third wasn’t enough as they fell 5-2.

The Habs played a strong first and third on Wednesday in Ottawa, but they fell asleep in the second period and allowed a parade to the penalty box to sink them as Ottawa’s strong power play sunk them with Montreal dropping a 3-2 decision.

An extended 5-on-3 and a four-minute 4-on-3 weren’t enough to get the Habs a power play marker on Monday night, but the Habs displayed a gutsy effort and killed a long list of their own penalties to finally be able to beat the Flames 2-1 in a shootout in what was a wildly entertaining game.

This past week for the Habs kicked off with what will certainly be one of the more bizarre games of the season and ended with one of the more frustrating ones as they were more or less shut down by the Kings. Plus, some thoughts on some poor decisions when it comes to Montreal’s recent roster management.

After a long layoff following their West Coast road trip, the Habs were back in action on Saturday as they hosted the Kings. A comeback in the second half of the third period fell just short as Los Angeles picked up the 4-2 victory.

Topics in this episode of our podcast include discussion about Cole Caufield’s hot start, should the Habs send Juraj Slafkovsky to the World Juniors, and much more.

Last month saw the Habs take a bit of a step back from their surprising October performance. However, relative to expectations, several players still put up strong performances, helping them earn a place in the three stars as voted by our readers.

With the World Juniors coming up soon, the Habs will have to decide if they’re going to loan Juraj Slafkovsky to play for Slovakia in the tournament. Should they do that? Our writers offer up their thoughts.

In a game that can only be described as uneven for the Habs on Tuesday night, they were still able to ride a hot start to the second period to a win in Seattle against one of the hottest teams in the league.