Canadiens Know Bad Second-Period Habits Must Be Addressed with Urgency

PITTSBURGH — There stood Juraj Slafkovsky, seething over how his Montreal Canadiens choked away an early lead and surrendered momentum by coughing up puck after puck to allow the Pittsburgh Penguins five unanswered goals from the 14:37 mark of the first period through the 15:32 mark of the second period. Don’t try to tell Slafkovsky that at least the Canadiens clawed their way back from a 5-1 deficit to earn a point in the standings before losing in overtime Saturday. He also wasn’t interested in taking the built-in excuse of this being a typical early-season game — the type we’ve…