PLAYOFF FEEL IN THE AIR: PRICE
Carey Price had a feeling that the game wasn’t going to end with a clean goal.
“They got a puck toward the goal and they got a lucky bounce,” Price said when asked about Tyler Johnson’s overtime goal, which gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 1- 0 win over the Canadiens.
“They had a guy trying to do his job in front.”
The guy in front was Nikita Kucherov and he served as a screen on the shot, which deflected off defenceman Tom Gilbert.
“I kind of figured toward the end of the game that was the way it was going to end and they were the ones who got it,” Price said.
It wouldn’t be totally accurate to call this a goaltending duel between Price and Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop, who has an 8- 1- 2 record against Montreal.
While Price was peppered with 36 shots, Bishop faced only 19, including a mere two in the third period.
“They were playing pretty aggressive,” Price said. “They did a good job of maintaining pressure in our end. They’re a skating team and they cycled and they made it tough for us to move up the ice.”
Price said the contest had the feel of a playoff game with two hungry teams battling for the win.
“Whenever you take it into overtime, you give yourself an opportunity,” Price said. “They’re a tough hockey team; they’ve played us tough all season.”
How tough? The Lightning is 3- 0 against the Canadiens this season and have outscored Montreal 12- 3.
Price was serenaded with chants of “Ca- rey, Ca- rey” throughout the night with the loudest cheers following an acrobatic save on Ryan Callahan in the second period.
“I kicked a rebound right out to him. He didn’t get all of it and I sort of chicken- winged it,” said Price, making it seem easier that it was.
“I knew he was a good goalie and I thank God he’s on my side now,” said Torrey Mitchell, who won nine of 12 faceoffs in his home debut with the Canadiens.
Max Pacioretty, who had only one shot on goal, was disappointed with the result.
“We treat every game like we should get two points and we fell short tonight,” Pacioretty said.
“It’s been the same story too many times this year. We relied too much on Carey and we weren’t able to put pucks in the net. From my point of view, we have to compete harder in the offensive zone. We can talk about our power play not executing, but we haven’t been getting enough looks on the power play. That’s the result of not working hard enough in the offensive zone. Players like me should be drawing penalties every night, working hard down low and forcing people to use their sticks.”
The Canadiens had only one power play while the Lightning had four.
“Our PK wasn’t where it should be on our road trip,” Pacioretty said. “We did a good job tonight, but you’re not going to win games when you’re on the box often and I’m guilty of that tonight.”
The Canadiens almost had some short- handed chances, but some bouncing pucks and an alert Tampa defence shut them down.
“They’re a well- coached team with great structure,” Pacioretty said. “There were a couple of times I thought I was off to the races and all of a sudden their ( defenceman) had a full head of steam. It shows the kind of com- pete level on that team.”
Pacioretty called the two- shot output in the third period frustrating. but coach Michel Therrien said the Canadiens were still feeling the effects of their Western U. S. road trip last week.
“The Lightning played a big game and they deserved ( the win)," Therrien said. "The longer the game went on, the more we lost our energy.
“The first game ( after a long road trip) is always demanding to play,” Therrien added. “We found a way to get to the overtime. Carey was great tonight and we got a point.”
And Therrien concluded by looking at the big picture.
“Our group has worked extremely hard and we’re still in first,” Therrien said. “Who would have said we’d be in first at the beginning of the season?”