Carey Price has fans in surprising places

On the seventh day, Carey Price rested.

The Canadiens’ Price did not face the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, giving us a chance to reflect, if not genuflect, upon Price’s work this season as the best goaltender this side of Nashville, if not the entire NHL.

Price and the Predators’ Pekka Rinne are in a different goaltending galaxy this season. No one else is close. Their team’s respective standing tells part of the story — Price has led Montreal to first in the Eastern Conference, while Rinne and Nashville are first in the west.

Their goaltending numbers tell another part: Rinne with 34 victories to Price’s 32. Their goals-against and save percentage are close to mirror images — Price at 1.93 and .935; Rinne, 1.94 and .932.

At this point, both Price and Rinne are strong candidates for the Vezina and Hart Trophies. And yet, when someone recently asked Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz to name the best player in the NHL, he didn’t hesitate: “Carey Price.”

That seemed to stun reporters in that particular scrum, because what followed was a giant pause (they were expecting, “Alex Ovechkin” perhaps?).

I find it even more curious that he named Price ahead of Rinne, considering Rinne was Trotz’ starting goalie in Nashville from 2008 until the end of last season.

It could be that Trotz was frustrated over a major hip injury to Rinne last season that hurt the Predators to the point that it cost Trotz his job after 16 years.

Or, it could simply be, now that he’s in the Eastern Conference, Trotz has an appreciation for Price he didn’t have before.

“Every night he’s the difference-maker it seems,” Trotz said, by way of explaining his choice of Price as the NHL’s best — player or goalie.

No doubt Trotz took note of Price’s three shutouts in his past eight starts. Price didn’t pick his spots. After the All-Star break, he blanked the New York Rangers and Trotz’ Capitals back-to-back. In his last start, Monday night, Price shut out the Detroit Red Wings for his 30th career shutout, moving him past Patrick Roy into fifth all-time in the Canadiens’ decorated history.

In his past four starts, Price has an otherworldly save percentage of .973 and has yielded four goals, for a .75 goals-against. At 27, he is hitting his prime. Wednesday, the Habs gave the Senators — and Price — a break, sitting him out while backup Dustin Tokarski drew the assignment against Ottawa’s Andrew Hammond, making his first NHL start. Perhaps someday the Senators will have this kind of stability in goal. As it is, starter Craig Anderson seems to suffer an annual injury or mishap at this time of year, and Robin Lehner, the goalie of the future, has suffered some ups and downs this season, even before getting hurt in a crease collision with teammate Clarke MacArthur on Monday against Carolina.

Price has had injury issues, too. When he was went down in Game 1 of the 2014 conference final against the New York Rangers, the Habs lost all hope of reaching the Stanley Cup final. Price also got hurt in Game 4 of the playoff series against Ottawa in 2013. The Senators rolled over backup Peter Budaj in the Game 5 finale, 6-1.

Much has changed for the Canadiens — most of it good — since that humbling first-round loss to the Senators two years ago. On Price’s back, they posted 100 regular season points in 2013-14 en route to the conference final. Price, meanwhile, went off to the Olympics in Sochi and backstopped Canada to a gold medal while being named the tournament’s top goalie.

Afterward, he came back to Montreal enriched by the experience, says Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien.

“He’s dominated,” Therrien said on Wednesday.

“He’s on top of his game, and it’s nice to see the progression for Carey Price. Even last year, he had a very good season for our team, but the fact he went to the Olympics, surrounded by the great leaders in our game, I believe really helped him.”

Price’s numbers post-Sochi, including playoffs, are daunting: 48-18-2, eight shutouts, 2.07 goals-against, .932 save percentage.

Brendan Gallagher, the Canadiens’ pepper-pot winger, noted a subtle change in Price after the Olympics, not that he wasn’t an elite goalie beforehand.

“To get the job to start for Team Canada you’ve got to be doing something right,” Gallagher says. “But after that, you could see the confidence, from going through that experience and learning what it took to be a winner at the world stage.

“He’s brought that back to our team. He shows that leadership and confidence — and that understanding of what it takes to be a champion.”

Winger Max Pacioretty recently called Price the Habs’ “backbone” and said players get goosebumps heading onto the ice with Price, “because you want to step up for him.”

The Canadiens have given up fewer goals than any NHL team this season. Their team defence has improved.

Even so, Gallagher says, a few times a game they rely on No. 31 “to make a Carey Price save to bail us out.”