Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price's Struggles Continue In Blowout Loss
The Montreal Canadiens were drubbed 7-1 by the Minnesota Wild. Price’s struggles enter week six, but it is not time to panic just yet, Habs fans.
The Montreal Canadiens fell to the Minnesota Wild in embarrassing fashion tonight. One night after putting up seven goals against the Winnipeg Jets in a 7-4 victory, the Habs allowed seven themselves and lost 7-1.
It wasn’t the worst loss of the season. The Canadiens of course were run out of Columbus after allowing ten goals to the Blue Jackets in a 10-0 defeat back on November, 4th. Nevertheless, tonight wasn’t a great night to be a Habs fan.
The sky is certainly not falling. The Canadiens remain firmly in first place in the Atlantic Division. They still hold a nine point cushion over the Boston Bruins who are in second in the division, so they won’t be losing their status as the top team in the East any time soon.
The Habs haven’t made a habit of losing this season. However, the loss continues a disturbing trend of Carey Price not being himself. That is to say, he has not been otherworldly in more than a month. In fact, he hasn’t even been average going all the way back to December 1st.
Price’s struggles began in early December
Price played eleven games in the month of December. He posted a 2.64 goals-against average which is far higher than he usually posts. He also had a very pedestrian .898 save percentage in that span, allowing 28 goals on 276 shots.
Things haven’t gotten much better for the Habs netminder since the calendar flipped to 2017. In four January starts, Price has allowed 15 goals and has stopped 88.5 percent of the shots fired his way.
It’s easy to point the finger elsewhere and try to blame the defence for certain goals, bad coverage for others, turnovers, penalty killing strategy, too many penalties or whatever other excuse that doesn’t pin it all on Price.
Price well known for carrying team on his back
It is a team game after all, so we can’t say Price is the only one to blame for his fairly lengthy cold snap. However, this is the same guy who won pretty much every award two years ago. He watched from the sidelines last season as his team was quite literally the best team in 2015-16 with him and the worst team in the league without him.
He earned that reputation as a goaltender who was constantly stealing games and propelling an otherwise weak team to the top of the Atlantic Division. He had a 2.06 GAA with a .934 SV% last season in 12 games. A .933 SV% and a 1.96 GAA when he won the Hart and Vezina in 2014-15. A 2.32 GAA and a .927 SV% the year before that.
It’s head-scratching to try and figure out why Price hasn’t been himself for the past six weeks. We have become so accustomed to Price stopping everything, whether he faced 14 shots or 41. And he was always facing closer to 41.
Struggles come at exact time injuries piled up for Habs
The cold streak couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Habs. It almost exactly coincides with a rash of injuries that has the team playing extremely shorthanded since the start of December. Perhaps the injuries are a reason for Price’s numbers dropping? Were his teammates helping more than we ever gave them credit for?
It’s hard to say. But it’s not like the Habs are being drastically outplayed every night. In fact, even with the injuries and with Price not performing anywhere near his best, he still has a 7-4-2 record since December 4th.
Though Price is going through a rare tough stretch, I don’t think it’s time to panic. In fact, the Habs have been able to stay afloat without Price carrying them. This stretch of games should be more encouraging than worrisome. We finally know this team is more than just a fantastic goaltender.
Encouraging signs for Habs amidst Price’s unusual play
It’s highlighted by the fact Price has set the bar so high for himself over the past three years. We as fans expect nothing short of phenomenal from him every night.
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Take a deep breath and look at it again. We are now looking at a 14 game stretch of lousy play. Sprinkled in those 14 games were great games against the Colorado Avalanche, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators.
So really, we are getting worked up over nine bad games in a 14 game stretch. If any other player in the league has five great games in 14, they are probably closer to a hot streak than a cold streak.
We are so spoiled to have Price in net, that a number or ordinary games in a month stick out like a sore thumb. Relax. Price hasn’t been his best, but it’s far too early to worry about his play or ridiculously speculate on a possible injury.
And hey? Isn’t it better that Price isn’t at his best in December instead of April? Or May? Or even June if he is going to get his cold streak out of the way now.
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