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 seen all over the league this week following 14-day training camps replacing 24-day camps.

No, the 22-year-old wasn’t having it. He was rightfully pissed.

“Can’t let them do that,” Slafkovsky said. “We fell asleep, and I think it shouldn’t happen.”

Not one game into the season. Not ever.

At least not anymore.

“It’s our fifth year together,” said Slafkovsky, “and we kind of talk about it every single year…”

About how good starts to the season are built on urgency, attention to detail, and commitment to playing the right way when plenty of other teams are finding their way there through the first 10 contests.

The Canadiens kicked things off reasonably well with a win over Toronto on Tuesday before having two productive practices in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday. They came out gangbusters Saturday, got a goal less than four minutes........

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