Carey-ing the Load: Price Has Been Right for Canadiens

Goaltender Carey Price has been lights out for the Canadiens this season, leading the Habs to the top of the Eastern Conference despite limited production from Montreal’s offense. Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images

By Jeff Pini

February 9, 2015

2 minutes to read

Twenty-first in the league in goals per game. Twenty-second in power play percentage. Twenty-fifth in shots per game. Twenty-second in shots allowed.

Yet the Montreal Canadiens, fresh off their season sweep of the Bruins, entered the second week of February with 71 points, two behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

So how are the Habs doing it? Two words: Carey Price.

Simply put, Price has been outstanding this year for Montreal. In his eighth season with the Canadiens, the 27-year-old netminder has compiled a record of 29-11-2 with a miniscule 2.03 goals against average and a .932 save percentage, topping all NHL goaltenders.

Price’s phenomenal year comes on the heels of a 2013-14 season where he went 34-20-5, allowing 2.32 goals per game with a .927 save percentage, helping the Habs to within two wins of their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1993.

The play of Price has put the Habs in position for another deep playoff run, despite their shortcomings on offense. Montreal’s leading scorer, Max Pacioretty, has 45 points on the season, placing him 24th league-wide, while the dropoff to their second highest scorer, P.K. Subban, is nine points. Only six Canadiens forwards have tallied 20-plus this season.

But scoring totals haven’t been the teller of Canadiens teams’ success or failure over the past few seasons. Montreal finished 21st in the NHL in goals per game last year before their run to the Eastern Conference Final, while in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, they tallied the fourth-highest goals average in the league before being bounced in the opening round of the playoffs by the Ottawa Senators.

An ugly reminder for Bruins fans just how good Price is this season has been in direct competition against the Black and Gold – and facing reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tuukka Rask.

In the Habs’ aforementioned season sweep of the Bruins, Price started all four games, going 4-0 with a .950 save percentage. After allowing four goals on 29 shots in their first meeting on Oct. 16, Price gave up just two goals on 90 shots to end his regular season against the Bruins with a 1.50 GAA.

Rask, meanwhile, has played well, but just can’t seem to come out on top against Montreal. The Bruins goaltender went 0-3 in three games against the Habs this season, allowing three goals per game, with most of the damage coming in the Bruins’ 6-4 loss to the Habs on Oct. 16, when he allowed five. Rask’s career record against Montreal now stands at 3-13-3.

Just over a third of the 2014-15 NHL regular season remains and the race for the 2014-15 Vezina Trophy appears to be down to two horses: Price and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, who has been the presumed favorite for much of the year, but suffered a knee injury that kept him off the ice for three weeks. That absence may tip the scales in favor of Price, in addition to Nashville’s offense providing Rinne with far more run support than the Canadiens have given Price, putting him ahead in the eyes of the voters.

With any playoff road for the Bruins likely running through Montreal, B’s fans can only hope that “the Price is Wrong’’ come April, or their team will undoubtedly face another summer of questions on how they can’t vanquish their rivals to the north.