Sportnet (Jim Kelley):

Simply because there are no other teams in play, Montreal is now Canada’s team and the whole country will be watching and waiting to see how coach Guy Carbonneau handles his first real goaltending crisis of the playoffs.Boy wonder Carey Price has struggled against Philadelphia and played so poorly in Game 3 Monday that Carbonneau replaced him at the start of the third period with the equally young and inexperienced Jaroslav Halak. No one got much of a read on Halak’s work (including the Flyers.) He faced just two shots, largely because the entire third period seemed to be played in the Philadelphia end as the Canadiens desperately tried to get back into what was then a 3-0 hockey game in Philadelphia’s favour.

And while some are saying it’s a “no-brainer” that Carbonneau comes back with Price, this writer argues for Halak for a variety of reasons. One, unlike Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff, who is experienced and has played and played well in the seventh game of a Stanley Cup final, Price needs a break. He appears to be a goalie on the edge of physical and mental exhaustion and his play on Philadelphia’s second and third goals was so bad that it fed rumours of a possible wrist injury, Even if that’s not the case, he genuinely appeared in need of getting away from the pressure. Couple that with a need to reflect on his play of late and it’s a change that might be what both he and the Canadiens need.

Halak is no stiff. He’s about as experienced as Price, but in that limited experience he’s played well on the world stage, in juniors and in the AHL. It’s not an ideal situation but one Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey chose when he traded Christobal Huet to Washington and decided to go with his kids. Now he and Carbonneau need to back up that decision with a call for Halak.

Normally this would be a simple call, but nothing is ever simple in Montreal. Price is being promoted as the second-coming of St. Patrick of Roy or Ken Dryden and it’s in no small part because he’s been pushed into the role of playoff starter so quickly. And while the Habs management did it solely for hockey reasons, it has become a political and marketing and television issue as well. Benching Canada’s son for a Euro-trained netminder (even one who cut his competitive teeth in the QMJHL) is no easy call. Why it might even cause fans to spill out into the streets and set police cars on fire even if the Habs win.