Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau says it will be a game time decision but who's kidding who?
Carey Price WILL start game four Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Granted his performances in the first three games are clearly not his best on record but nonetheless we will see him back between the pipes tomorrow
"I'm twenty years old, I'm finding out the hard way that the playoffs aren't easy. It's better to find out now than to find out at thirty." , Price told the media after Tuesday's practice. "When things go sour on you, you can't just give up.
Every goaltender at some point has had bad playoff series at one point in their careers. One thing the media and fans need to remember that this is just Price's second NHL series so no need to panic and as the Habs #1 goalie said "It's a game away from turning around."
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Price elected to wait until today to talk to the media to give himself some time to reflect on what happened Monday night. "I got the jist of it", Price said of why Carbonneau pulled him after two periods when he allowed 3 goals on 6 shots.
He was clearly not on his game Monday, and pulling him was a text book coaching move to let him observe and re focus on the next game and acts as a wake up call to the rest of the team.
The Canadiens did respond with two goals in the third period so obviously the strategy worked.
Going into game 5 the Canadiens will have to do two key things.
1. Protect their own goaltender and get back to blocking shots and keeping the Flyers out of his way. Price is a big boy who knows the Flyers trash talking is part of the game and will shove a Briere or Richards away from his crease when needed but should not be doing it alone.
2. Get in the face of Flyers goaltender Martin Biron. The Habs have been blasting shots at the Flyers netminder but they are not crashing the net or getting bodies in front of him. Note the two game three goals by Montreal were right on top of Biron and not unobstructed shots from 30 or 40 feet away.
If the Canadiens have better success with their offensive pressure and their defense can keep the lanes open, we can expect to see much better results from their rookie goalie Wednesday night.
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4 months ago
Good article. At this point in their playoff run, they should stick with the goalie that has 10 games under his belt, even though he was yanked in the last one. He is due to put on *his* show once again, and stonewall the Flyers to even up the series. After all, we are only down by one game. The sky is not about to fall. Yet.
And Halak's purpose as a backup is to step in when the starter has had a rough beginning in a game, or he gets injured.
I say stay with Carey Price. Even if he fails to pull a rabbit out of his hat and turn this series around, it's invaluable playoff experience in the big league that he needs now. This is a warm up to the team's centennial year cup run. We didn't let go Huet to finish off the year with Halak between the pipes.
4 months ago
Stick a fork in it, teenie riny Habs and dream about the tears of Territorial Rights. Thats why ypi wpm.
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