By Steve Farnham, Allhabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — Last Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens opened up their pre-season schedule as the Boston Bruins were in town for a visit.  Seeing as the Habs organization traded away Jaroslav Halak in the off-season and acquired Alex Auld to clearly be Price’s backup, there is no argument in Montreal with regards as to who will be the number one goaltender in Montreal this season, it will be Carey Price.

Obviously, this decision to keep Price over Halak did not please everyone, as there are still some people today that are very vocal about the fact that they feel the Habs should have kept Halak over Price.  Although everyone is entitled to their opinion, Halak is gone, Price is the Canadiens goalie, and it’s about time Habs fans in all shapes and forms come to that realization.

Since last season ended, I feel that Price has done all the right things.  He spent some of his off-season getting his mind off of hockey, which in my opinion is something all hockey players should do, if they don’t all do it already.  Price did this by taking part in rodeo events back in his hometown.

After signing his 2-year contract, and when training camp came around, Carey Price showed up in great shape and with a great attitude.  Echoes from around the Habs organization and players were and are still very promising in his regard.

So when Jacques Martin announced Price would be the starting goalie, in the first pre-season game, at home, it was clear that all eyes were going to be on Carey Price, and they were.

So many questions had been thrown around prior to this game but one kept coming back around.

How will the crowd react if Carey Price let’s in a bad goal?

It didn’t take very long to find out.

93 seconds in, Price was beat by a wrist shot that slightly deflected off of Jaroslav Spacek’s stick and found a hole under Price’s left arm.  In all honesty, although the shot was tipped, it’s a save he should have made.  Already, in the first game of pre-season, which means nothing at all, murmurs could be heard in the crowd.  I knew at this point we were going to be in for a long night.

Why?  I could tell Price was nervous and he didn’t look comfortable in the net.  Goalies have “tells” when they aren’t on top of their game and this often comes across as:

• Playing too far back in his net.
  (Rather then on top of the goal crease)
• Not bending the knees enough.
  (Goalies need to be in an almost seated position in order to generate the strength required for quick side-to-side movements.
• Body language.
  (After the first goal, he looked like someone who was thinking, “Here we go again.”)
• He wasn’t aggressive
  (He wasn’t challenging the shooters.)

Price was never able to get on a roll during this game.  He was later beat by a rocket of a shot from the blue line.  It was a power play goal, he was screened on the play, and it was clear from the replay that Price barely saw the shot before it beat him.  The murmurs all of a sudden turned to booing.

He was also later beat twice, both times on breakaways by Patrice Bergeron and the “boos” kept coming.

As if this wasn’t enough, some fans and I use the term very lightly in this sentence, decided to insanely cheer for Price anytime he touched the puck, or on the simplest of saves.  Pure mockery.

Then, when Price was replaced halfway through the game by Curtis Sanford (as per the game plan), those same fans cheered at the change, and continued cheering at the simplest of saves that Sanford had to make during the rest of the game.  It was 4-0 Bruins at the time of the goalie change, Price stopping 6 of 10 shots.

With Sanford in the net, the Habs would go on to score 2 goals and lost the game 4-2.

For the past two days, all the talk has been about Price and the reaction those fans had towards him and the way he played.

So did Price really have that bad of a night?

As a fan of Carey Price, I have to be honest and say that I do believe he did.  I am not saying that he deserves the treatment he got from those fans, far from it.

We’ve already covered the first goal and concluded it should have been stopped.

The second goal was scored on a power play, a laser from the blue line through a screen.  I do not fault him for the puck going into the net, where I fault him is for how far back in his net he was, both skates in the blue.  Had he been able to put himself a foot outside the crease, although he still might not have seen the puck, it could have allowed him to cut enough angle to make the save.  Some might think I am nit picking, but it’s a simple observation.

Finally, Patrice Bergeron was able to break away twice on Carey Price beating him on both occasions.  On the first goal, I’m pretty sure even Carey Price would admit he got fooled on the play.  He quickly went down expecting a shot, but Bergeron pulled the puck back and was able to push the puck in a practically empty net.  In his defense, this play might have never happened had Benoit Pouliot not lost the puck at the opposing blue line where he practically handed the puck over to the Bruins.

On the second, Bergeron was able to fool Price into going one way, while Bergeron went the other and again, an empty net was there for Bergeron to slide the puck in.  Again in Price’s defense, the play should have never happened as Spacek, the last man back lost the puck to Bergeron on a failed pass attempt, before Bergeron broke in alone.

Although I don’t feel he had a great night at all, I still don’t think it’s as bad as some people are making it out to be, so don’t crucify me yet.  I’m simply saying that on all four occasions, he didn’t seem like a goalie playing with confidence, and I really don’t believe he was.

So what happened to Carey Price then?

I believe that rightfully so, Carey Price was extremely nervous for his first game back in Montreal, following an off-season that saw Halak get shipped to St-Louis.  He also saw himself being reproached by some as having taken too long to sign his contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

So many people wondered how the fans would react, should Price let in a bad goal, or have a bad game, that even Carey Price must have asked himself this question.

So take a city where hockey is considered a religion followed by masses.  Take into consideration the fact that Habs fans have felt deprived for not being able to see their team play for the last few months.  Add to this a group of fans that are still upset that Price was kept over Halak.  Add to this over priced Bell Centre beer.  Add a nervous Carey Price on the ice and I honestly think it was a recipe for disaster.

What would you have done?

I’m not an NHL coach (obviously), and some will disagree with me but I would not have dressed Carey Price for that game.

The Habs have seven pre-season games so there’s no rush to throw him into the first game (at home).  I would have let the fans get a dose of hockey, before allowing them to get a dose of Carey.

Already in the lineup, we had many young players who will not be playing with the big club this season, they were nervous as well.  Doesn’t always come across as obviously for players because no goals are awarded to the other team when the puck gets past them.

What’s done is done.

What should we expect out of Carey Price going forward?

First, this is only pre-season.  Exhibition games don’t count and just like Carey Price said, people need to relax.  Unfortunately, I know that this won’t happen because there’s a small group of fans, “les pommes pourrîtes” as I like to call them who simply want Carey Price to fail.

For everyone else that likes Carey Price and/or wants him to succeed, I truly believe that there’s no reason to worry about what happened Wednesday.  Sure it was not a great game for him, sure we all hoped and wanted a better start for him.  It sucks, yes, I agree!  But it doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t, it was his first game action in many months, and he still has a lot of time ahead of him to find his game.  I’m confident he will.  I don’t believe the great things Price has demonstrated in the camp so far, were destroyed by that one game, or half of he’s had in pre-season.

His next game will be tomorrow in Ottawa.  Being on the road, being with his teammates who strongly came to his defense following Wednesday’s game, and probably believing himself that it can’t really go any worse then it already has; I’m confident he’ll turn it around, and in no time, he’ll find his game and provide some solid play between the pipes for the Montreal Canadiens.

Once thing is for certain, true Habs fans don’t “boo” at their own team, so maybe it’s time for Habs fans to police each other?  Oh no… more riots in Montreal…

You can also visit the other articles at All Habs where you can find a game review for Wednesday’s game, and Rick’s take on Wednesday’s events.

Go Habs Go