Yesterday, the Canadiens were hosting the Buffalo Sabres a team that had beat them 4-3 last month. After a counter performance on Tuesday, the hockey world was expecting to see la Sainte-Flanelle bounce back but it wasn't to be. There were some positives last night but mainly a lot of negatives.
Last night, the Sabres shot 31 times on the cage defended by Price and managed to score 6 times giving him a saving percentage of .806. This is not the kind of numbers fans, medias, coaches and even teammates expect. This is however the kind of number that gets people to ask; what is wrong with Carey Price? Here's an extract from his media availability last night post game:
Carey Price fait face à la musique : pic.twitter.com/dF4poZcdeR
— L'Antichambre (@Antichambre) November 9, 2018
I think it's fair to say that Price looks dejected, by his own admission he knows he's not playing as well as he used to and he refused to blame any sort of equipment issue (meaning red pads are not cursed and did not throw him off his game against Tampa Bay and the Rangers). In 12 games this season, Price has managed 5 wins and 7 losses (3 in overtime but a loss is a loss even if it did result in a loser point). His current stats on the year are a 3.07 GAA and a.892 save percentage. This is unfortunately not good enough for any number 1 goalie in this league. Thankfully, the Habs have fond a recipe for scoring this year and manage to get over 3 goals a game in the opposition's net which should mean that with Carey Price, they have a chance to win every game. But his current stats say otherwise...
Price is now in his 12th season with the Habs and one has to admit that for the last few years, the numbers have been disappointing but until that injury lost season in 2015-2016 which saw him play only 12 games, everything was going well. In fact, after those 12 games he had a 2.06 GAA and a .934 save percentage, numbers which weren't that far from his 2014-2015 record setting season with 1.96 GAA and .933 save percentage from then on though, there's been a derailment. To be fair though, Price is not the only one to have had issues since then, the whole team's performance has gone down and no one can contest that the defence has underwent a make-over and not necessarily for the best.
Coming back to last night, it's true that Price did not play well but the defence has got its part of responsibility as well. This week, we've seen a lot of odd-man rushes and a lot of sliding defence men taking themselves out of the play and leaving Price high and dry. He also used to have a much better rebound control but if your goaltender is giving rebounds, as a defensive unit you have to be the first on those pucks. Last night, on one big juicy rebound two Sabres were all alone in front of Carey Price and this shouldn't be.
Where do the Habs go from here? Well, Price said it himself, the problem is upstairs (in his head) and he has to work it out. As for the Habs, all they can do is improve the defence. A lot of odd-man rush defence practice should take place, a lot of exercices showing the forwards how to act to prevent though odd man rush and Luke Richardson also need to tell his defensive unit that all playing like Hal Gill by sliding on this ice is NOT a solution. In the meantime, it may be a good idea for Niemi to get a start at the Bell Centre Saturday night because it's been a while since we were able to call Price Mr. Saturday night. As for those who want to see Price traded out of town, that doesn't seem realistic with his contract from a monetary standpoint but also because of the no movement clause which it contains. One thing is for sure, Weber cannot come back soon enough, his presence will no doubt help Price through this crisis.
What do you think the Habs should do? What is their best course of action?