What we learned from the third week of the NHL season

Lessons from the past week of NHL play:

•General Manager Bob Murray was willing to wait for the Ducks to mesh, but they reached a critical point Monday with a 1-0 overtime loss at Chicago. They played well but fell to 1-5-2 after being shut out for the fifth time. It would be a shame if Coach Bruce Boudreau takes the fall for an apparent lack of locker-room leadership and a lack of goals from Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler.

•The Montreal Canadiens (9-0-0) are close to making history again. They set an NHL record for consecutive regulation wins to start a season, fueled by Carey Price’s 49-save performance against Toronto on Saturday. Next up: the NHL record for consecutive wins of any kind to start a season, 10, set by the 1993-94 Maple Leafs and matched by the 2006-07 Sabres. Toronto had an overtime win in that streak and the Sabres had three shootout wins. Montreal’s next game is Tuesday at Vancouver.

•New Columbus Blue Jackets Coach John Tortorella made a forceful first impression by criticizing the conditioning of franchise center Ryan Johansen, according to the New York Post. But the Columbus Dispatch reported Johansen is being tested for feeling persistent fatigue, so he might have had a medical reason for his lack of energy.

•Seemingly sure-shot line combinations can fizzle. The Kings initially put Milan Lucic alongside Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik, but the trio struggled. However, Lucic has meshed with Tyler Toffoli (six goals) and Jeff Carter. The Pittsburgh Penguins moved Phil Kessel off Sidney Crosby’s wing and put Kessel with Evgeni Malkin, which paid off Saturday when Kessel scored the overtime winner at Nashville.

•NHL justice remains random. The Department of Player Safety said it didn’t impose supplementary discipline on Bruins forward Zac Rinaldo for a brutal hit on Flyers forward Sean Couturier because “the head is not the main point of contact.” Maybe, but his head was still hit, and needlessly. Rinaldo should have been suspended five games.

•Center Evgeny Kuznetsov is making a case to remain the Capitals’ No. 1 center, ahead of Nicklas Backstrom. Kuznetsov has three goals and 11 points for Washington (6-1-0) and received the ultimate endorsement from teammate Alex Ovechkin: a playful shaving cream-filled towel in the face during a postgame interview.