PRICE SAVED POINT, NO MATTER WHAT THE STATS SAY
Statistics can be deceiving. Carey Price took the loss Monday night as the Washington Capitals defeated the Canadiens 5-4 in overtime. The game didn’t do anything for his goals-against average or his save percentage as he allowed five goals on 34 shots, but Tomas Tatar put Price’s performance in perspective when he said: “Carey got us a point tonight.” Price put together a series of spectacular saves which had the crowd chanting Ca-rey, Ca-rey on several occasions. And he saved a point for the Canadiens when he made a sprawling save on Alex Ovechkin with two seconds remaining in regulation time. Ovechkin, who scored two goals earlier in the game, was so impressed that he applauded Price after the save “It’s pretty cool,” admitted Price, “He’s a great player and he’s had my number for a while so it’s nice to get him back once.” Former Canadien Lars Eller beat Price with 1:26 remaining in overtime on a shot that Price said probably surprised Eller as much as it surprised Price. “He lost (the puck) and I don’t think he shot it where he wanted to,” said Price. While Price kept the Canadiens in the game, Braden Holtby won it for the Capitals. He replaced Pheonix Copley after the Canadiens took a 4-2 lead early in the second period. Holtby, who has had the Canadiens’ number for most of his career, was perfect as he made 22 saves with a game-saver on Brendan Gallagher in overtime. “He made a good save,” said Gallagher. “I had the top third of the net and I got good wood on the shot, but I just didn’t get it high enough.” Holtby is now 12-2-2 against the Canadiens with a 1.75 goalsagainst average and a .941 save percentage. After taking a 4-3 lead, the Canadiens missed a golden opportunity to put the game away after Eller took a double minor for high-sticking Gallagher. “When you have a long power play like that, you have to take advantage,” said Tatar. Coach Claude Julien said he was disappointed the Canadiens couldn’t hold on to take two points, but noted that the one point they collected might be important down the road. He noted that the Canadiens were at a bit of a disadvantage because they were coming back from a three-game Western Canada road trip. They also played with five defencemen after Noah Juulsen was injured in the first period and he went with three lines after the second period. The loss left the Canadiens with a 1-0-1 record against the Capitals this season and the point allowed Montreal to move into the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference with 26 points on an 11-6-4 record. It was a rough night for Juulsen. He was struck in the face by a shot from Michal Kempny in the opening minute of the game. He returned to action but was struck in the face again after he blocked a shot by Brett Connolly. This time he didn’t return. He went to a hospital for tests and there was no immediate word on his condition. Gallagher also left the game briefly after he was on the receiving end of a high stick wielded by Eller. Max Domi earned an assist on Petry’s power-play goal to run his consecutive-game points streak to 10 games with five goals and nine assists. He earned another mention in the game summary when he traded punches with Dmitry Orlov in the second period. Orlov put Domi down early in the scrap but Domi bounced up and gained the upper hand.