MONTREAL — New season, elevated expectations.

The Montreal Canadiens earned them by unexpectedly by making the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring. Now, it’s time to see if they can meet them.

It’s one thing to go into a season aiming to prove everyone wrong, playing loose and pressure-free. It’s another thing entirely to go into one aiming to prove people right.

Gauging the market, it’s become apparent that people around Montreal see the Canadiens as a team on the rise, a team with a promising core that’s matured and gelled together — and been bolstered by the additions of Noah Dobson, Zachary Bolduc and Ivan Demidov — and with that comes the type of pressure this group hasn’t yet faced.

How will the Canadiens handle being expected to make the playoffs? That’s what we’re going to find ou

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