Recharged Price ready to get back to business

Canadiens goalie Carey Price was asked if his first practice under new coach Claude Julien on Friday in Brossard reminded him of the first day of school.

“It kind of felt like a new season,” Price said. “It definitely had that vibe.” It won’t really matter what Julien does behind the bench if Price doesn’t start playing better. The goalie is 1-4 in his last five starts and has given up four goals in each of his last three games.

One of the first drills Julien put the players through Friday was defensive-zone coverage, which put a smile on Price’s face.

This has already been a long season for Price, starting with the World Cup of Hockey and including a trip to Los Angeles for the AllStar Game. During the Canadiens’ four-day break this week, Price was able to get away from hockey, heading about two hours north of Montreal.

“I didn’t think about hockey,” Price said. “Even when I heard the news (about Michel Therrien getting fired) I just put it in my back pocket. It was nice to get a mental break and recharge.”

The Canadiens are going to go as far as Price will carry them this season and the arrival of Julien certainly seemed to sit well with the goalie, who said the team had lost its identity under Therrien.

“We spent a lot of time in our end for that last week,” Price said. “We weren’t doing that when we were successful. We were a good forechecking team, we were hemming opposition teams in their end instead of rope-a-doping in our end.”

Was it a case of the players no longer responding to Therrien? “A little bit,” Price said. “I don’t think the guys were playing with a lot of confidence, either. Maybe overthinking the game a little bit too much.”

Therrien had made it clear he wanted to limit Price to 60 games this season after the goalie missed most of last year with a knee injury. Julien hasn’t had a chance yet to talk with Price about how to use him during the final 24 games.

“I’m pretty sure he’s ready to play tomorrow,” the coach said with a smile about Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Centre.

Price admitted it’s been a challenging season for him. But he definitely seemed a lot happier on the job Friday.