‘LET’S CUT THE CHASE, I WASN’T VERY GOOD’: PRICE
Goaltender has given up at least four goals in each of his last four starts
Carey Price was a man of few words Thursday night, but he didn’t need many words to sum up the Canadiens’ 6-5 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres. “Let’s cut the chase, I wasn’t very good,” Price said to kick off a post-game scrum that lasted 56 seconds. Price, who is trying to bounce back from the worst season of his career, has given up at least four goals in each of his last four starts and his numbers aren’t very good. After Thursday’s debacle, he has a 3.07 goalsagainst average and an .892 save percentage. Price wasn’t looking for any excuses. When asked about defensive breakdowns in front of him, he replied: “I’m not playing as well as I did earlier.” And when he was asked whether changes in the equipment contributed to the fall-off in his play, he said: “No. it’s all upstairs. I’ll figure it out.” Coach Claude Julien was willing to give his goaltender the benefit of the doubt. He conceded that Price is still trying to find his game, but noted that it was more difficult when his teammates aren’t doing the job in front of the net. Julien said it was important for the coaches to show they’re behind Price and he started the ball rolling with a vote of confidence. “He’s been good, but everyone knows he can be great,” Julien said. “We’ll try to help him find his game and take it to the next level.” Julien described the game as sloppy and said the Canadiens were soft in front of the net. He pointed to a 2-on-1 break where the defence was caught out of position. And there was the tying goal off a faceoff in the Canadiens’ end. Jack Eichel won the draw and nobody picked up Jeff Skinner as he went to the front of the net. The loss marked the first time this season the Canadiens have suffered consecutive losses. The ability to rebound after a loss has been a point of pride for this team and Julien said it was important to regroup at practice Friday and get ready for a visit from the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. The Golden Knights defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-3 Thursday. That game will mark Max Pacioretty’s return to Montreal. The perennial 30-goal scorer has only two goals in 12 games. Tomas Tatar, who came to Montreal in the deal that sent Pacioretty to Vegas, scored his sixth of the season Thursday. Offence wasn’t a problem for the Canadiens Thursday and Julien suggested that Buffalo couldn’t have been happy with its defensive effort. When you score five goals, you normally have a good chance to win a game, but that presupposes a decent defensive effort. On the positive side, Max Domi continues to produce offence. He picked up three assists and two of them came off pinpoint passes as teammates went to the net. Matthew Peca picked up his first goal as a Canadien and added an assist. Nicolas Deslauriers gave the Canadiens their only lead with his first goal of the season and also added an assist. Deslauriers’s goal was a short-handed effort and Montreal managed to kill all three penalties against them. The Montreal PK emerged from the game with the fifth-best record in the NHL, killing penalties at an 84.2 per cent rate. The power play isn’t doing as well. The Canadiens not only came up empty with the extra man, but they failed to capitalize on a pair of 5-on-3 advantages. The power play ranks 27th in the NHL with a success rate of 14.1 per cent.