Carey Price only focused on one trophy
MONTREAL — It’s all about concentrating on the short term, Carey Price is saying. It’s about getting off to a good start Friday night in Game 1 of the Canadiens’ Eastern Conference semifinal against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It’s focusing on the right things.
About 10 minutes into his talk with reporters after Thursday’s practice, within sight of interview’s end, Price sighed at a question, a rephrasing of a query he’d addressed in a variety of ways, then shrugged and apologized.
“I’m sorry I’m so boring,” the Canadiens goaltender said to laughter. “Those are just the cold, hard facts of what goes through my head.”
Which isn’t a lot, if you’re to believe him. The thought process isn’t terribly deep; it isn’t a revolutionary, secret method that Price is cloaking from others.
On Thursday night, Price wouldn’t be poring over the tendencies of Tampa Bay shooters or studying the minutiae of scouting reports.
“It’s just (about) reacting,” he said of goaltending as he views it, be it the exhibition, regular season or playoff brand.
“I think it’s a good idea to do some video, maybe get an idea how well guys shoot. But as far as seeing tendencies, it’s not a good idea to start relying on video. The game is about reading and reacting. … The game’s not played in the video room, it’s played on the ice.”
Twenty-four hours earlier, Price had been informed on practice ice by coach Michel Therrien that he was a finalist for the 2015 Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the player voted to be the most valuable to his team.
This followed his nomination for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the goalie voted to be best at his position, and his winning a share of the William M. Jennings Trophy as the netminder whose team allowed fewest goals.
Before that, Price won every monthly instalment of the Canadiens’ Molson Cup, based on three-star selections, earning the annual award for the fifth consecutive season.
And last October he was named recipient of the 2013-14 Jean Beliveau Trophy for his charitable work in the community.
Add to the those awards a dozen souvenir pucks, one for each of his nine shutouts this season and three other rubber keepsakes: one from his franchise record-equalling 42nd regular-season victory, and one each from Nos. 43 and 44. Plus a couple of golf balls he says he found at Laval-sur-le-Lac during the Canadiens’ September golf tournament. Bonus! Price was one enormous yawn on the eve of his team’s semifinal opener vs. Tampa Bay, a team that almost toyed with the Canadiens with five unanswered victories this season. His frame of mind was the same as it was before the quarter-final round against Ottawa; as it was in mid-season; as it was at the start of training camp.
Predictably, Price greeted his Hart nomination as merely a milepost on a journey that is far from its final destination. A champagne celebration? No, how about chocolate cake while he watched the Lightning knock off the Detroit Red Wings to earn their dance with the Canadiens.
“Death by chocolate,” Price joked, still very much alive and well.
It was in a similarly low-key fashion that he had greeted news of his Vezina nod and his share of the Jennings with Chicago’s Corey Crawford.
Each, Price said, is a reflection of the team in front of him.
“It’s been huge,” he said of his teammates’ contribution. “There’s no question that I wouldn’t be here getting these nominations without these guys who have been playing so well in front of me.
“I’m flattered and honoured to be nominated. There (aren’t) individual successes, obviously, without my team playing so well in front of me.
“I haven’t put much thought into it,” he added of the Hart nomination. “I’ve just been preoccupied with other things. The season’s not over yet, I have other goals to attain.”
Recognition for the Hart and Vezina is nice and all, but...
“There’s been a lot of goaltenders who have won Vezina trophies who have never won a Stanley Cup,” Price said. “It’s not something I’m focused on right now. … I enjoyed (the Hart nomination) last night but I have other goals to obtain. Once the season is over and I’m sitting in Vegas, I can enjoy it.”
Price and teammate P.K. Subban, up for the Norris Trophy for the second time in three seasons as the league’s top defenceman, will be in Las Vegas on June 24 for the NHL awards gala.
Nothing that took place during the regular season counts now, Price said.
“We’re definitely looking forward to it,” he said of meeting Tampa Bay, which dominated the Habs this season after the Canadiens had swept them in last year’s Eastern quarter-finals.
“It’s a team that played us well all season long. They have a high-octane offence so it’s definitely going to be a good challenge for our team.”