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Price's Dreams Are Turning into Nightmares at the Bell Centre |
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It’s obviously the topic of conversation today, as it well should be. Aside from the fact that the Canadiens played some kind of ‘April Fool’s’ joke on themselves last night, some of the fans outdid them with a prank of their own: Booing Carey Price, when he was announced as the game’s 3rd star.
While Montreal’s fanbase is referred to as the league’s most knowledgeable, incidents like last night’s tend to poke major holes in that theory. But I have a theory of my own. In any crowd, rational minds analyze and pragmatically breakdown the events of a game, while the irrational ones yell and boo when the denouement doesn’t match their preconception about how a game should be played.
Someone may watch last night’s spectacle, and theorize that the Canadiens’ fans are among the dumbest, most insensitive fans in the league. But there are just as many (if not more) rational and pragmatic fans as there are irrational and stupid ones; the difference being that the latter are more audible than the former.
So to the idiots who would boo a 22-year old goalie that’s had his ups and downs, but hasn’t been the reason his team has lost in 95% of the games he’s started…I don’t really have anything to say that you would understand.
To the rest of you, who come to this blog on a daily basis, and do understand, let’s talk about Carey Price for a second. Let’s talk about a goalie that isn’t far off from where Jaroslav Halak is at 24 years old. Let’s talk about a goalie that now has nearly as much experience playing in the National Hockey League as some guys who are five years his senior; about a goalie that clearly has all the talent to be among the best in the game, and at times in his young career, has looked like he’d fit in that class; about a goalie that at age 24--two years from now-- will be as good if not better than Halak has been for the Canadiens this season. And if you’d like to add fuel to the fire, how much better do you think Halak will be two years down the line than he currently is?
I approached Carey Price directly after the game, and as I neared the young netminder who was shedding his equipment in sheer frustration, he intimated to PR director, Donald Beauchamps, “What am I going to say? I have nothing to say…” Glancing over at an inconsolable Price, I thought: “That’s fair enough.”
The Canadiens haven’t allowed more than 3 goals against since the Olympic break. The Canadiens have scored more than 2 goals in 4 of Carey Price’s 25 losses (OT and shootout included). A goalie with a .912 SA% and a 2.77 goals-against has 13 wins in 41 games. Marty Turco has 21 wins with a .913 SA% and a 2.74 gaa, Chris Mason has 27 wins with a .914. Marty Brodeur has 41 wins, with a .914. Jonas Hiller has a 2.76 gaa, and 29 wins. Nick Backstrom has a .903 SA% and a 2.70 gaa, and 26 wins.
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Getting back to the game that was, the Canadiens couldn’t afford to drop the points last night, and yet that didn’t prevent them from falling off a gameplan that was working heavily in their favor, in a tight game. Frustration set in after two periods of domination and looking at an even scoresheet that didn’t reflect how the game was being played. The Canadiens sacrificed defense for offense to start the third. The Hurricanes outshot them 8-0 in less than 4 minutes. Price made 16-17 saves in the frame, but his teammates couldn’t find a solution to Cam Ward, and failed to push the game to overtime.
You can search for any and every explanation in the lexicon of hockey clichés. None of them affect the outcome. Plain and simple, they just didn’t win. It doesn’t really matter why.
All that matters now is what they do against Philadelphia on Friday; against Buffalo on Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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