Price holds down fort until Habs get rolling
Canadiens dig way out of early deficit to score huge win against Rangers
On Friday morning, Carey Price got his first look at a viral video of him hugging a young fan who had recently lost his mother to cancer. Later that night, Price put on a performance that will probably earn him even more fans, making 28 saves in the Canadiens’ 4-2 win over the New York Rangers as the Habs held onto the first wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. “Obviously, it was a touching moment for the young guy,” Price said about 11-year-old Anderson Whitehead, who met the goalie after the team’s morning skate last Saturday in Toronto. “But leading up to the game, we had a big, important game for us tonight.” That’s what Price was focused on and the Canadiens needed their goalie to be at his best as they got off to a slow start, trailing 1-0 after the first period on a deflected shot by the Rangers’ Vladislav Namestnikov. “Oh, my God, he was huge,” Canadiens defenceman Jordie Benn said about Price. “That makes me giggle on the bench. When he’s on, he is on. It’s fun to watch.” Benn also likes to watch the replays of Price’s big saves on the giant screen. “Every time,” Benn said with a smile under his bushy beard. “You get to re-live it again. I’ll probably go on Instagram and watch them all night now. “Tonight it definitely wasn’t pretty, but thanks to Pricey we got two points and we just got to learn from our first period,” Benn said. “Teams that are so-called out of it are coming hard. They’ve got nothing to lose. So we’ve just got to be ready to go.” The Canadiens will need to be ready to go again on Saturday when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, SNO, SNP, SN360, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio). Will Price be ready to play again if coach Claude Julien calls on him? “It’s always a big question,” Price said. “We’ll re-address it in the morning. But I’m sure.” When asked if he’s feeling the best physically that he has all season, Price grinned and said: “Oh, yeah.” Price has now started 12 of the last 13 games, and he came on in relief of Antti Niemi during the first period of the only game he didn’t start. “You kind of fall into a groove,” Price said. “You just put your work boots on every day and try to do your job. I think taking a couple days off from practice helps.” Brendan Gallagher scored his team-leading 28th goal of the season for the Canadiens and Joel Armia had a hat trick, notching his final goal into an empty net, giving him 10 on the season. “I don’t think he lacked confidence (offensively),” Julien said about Armia. “He was getting chances and they weren’t going in. But tonight, two big goals and the empty-netter. He’s been a good player for us this year. Something that we don’t have a lot of, a big forward who protects the puck well, is strong, hard to get the puck off. Excels along the walls, a big body. He’s got a good shot and he showed that tonight. So, hopefully, that’s the confidence that’s going to help him score some more for us.” Price said watching the video with the young fan was an emotional experience for him and the goalie was surprised it went viral. “It’s always nice to have intimate moments with somebody and it’s up to the family to share it,” Price said. “That’s fine . ... He’s going through a tough time. I’m a compassionate person and he touched me a lot. I’m just glad to help out in some small way.” Price helped his teammates out in a very big way against the Rangers.