You don’t need to go back too far in time to get a sense for where the Montreal Canadiens would be without Carey Price.
In the goaltender’s 70-game absence last season, the Canadiens turned a historic start into an epic collapse, going from first in the NHL at the beginning of December to 22nd overall by season’s end.
And if you’re looking for the reason as to why the Canadiens have amassed a league-leading 34 points in 22 games this season, look no further than Price’s crease—where miracles happen on a nightly basis.
He provided one on Saturday, turning aside 33 shots in just under 64 minutes of hockey to give the Canadiens a 2-1 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings.
It was Price’s 19th consecutive win on Hockey Night in Canada. How he achieved it was just incredible.
After a not-so-busy first period, in which Price only had to stop five shots, he had to have his head on a swivel to keep the game scoreless in the second.
Fifteen Detroit shots came from all angles in the middle frame, many of them threatening to put the Canadiens in a world of hurt going into the third, but there was Price, steady as ever.
What he did in the third period put a stamp on what might have been his strongest performance of the season to date.
After Justin Abdelkader made it 1-0 for Detroit with a perfect shot three minutes and 20 seconds into the period, Price hunkered down and made an absolute game-saver.
Henrik Zetterberg jumped out of the penalty box and stole a puck in the neutral zone, before quickly dishing it off and setting himself up for a one-timer from 16 feet out. Price kicked out his left pad and sent the Swede back to Detroit’s bench shaking his head.
The next two saves that Price made were just absurd.
First he stonewalled Xavier Ouellet on a perfect cross-crease pass from Dylan Larkin, and then he shook Thomas Vanek off his back to make a diving save on a point-shot from Jonathan Ericsson before smothering the puck as the three Detroit forwards circled his net for a rebound.
Fifty-four seconds later Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher snapped a 15-game goal drought by deflecting Tomas Plekanec’s shot into the roof of Petr Mrazek’s net to tie the game.
It didn’t seem fathomable that Price would come up with something better in overtime, but given the circumstances of the Canadiens being short-handed just 27 seconds into the period the saves he made were probably his best of the night.
First Tomas Tatar came right down Main Street and got everything into a snapshot that Price stopped with his blocker. Ryan Sproul’s point-shot some 40 seconds later was redirected smoothly into the corner by Price to send Plekanec and Shea Weber on a two-on-one that ended with Weber’s shot off the post.
And the piece de resistance was Price’s final save of the night.
Detroit’s Anthony Mantha chipped the puck to himself on the right wing and got himself a clean look at a shot on a two-on-one chance. He put all of his weight into a wrist shot that Price kicked out with his right pad to send Alexander Radulov and Alex Galchenyuk on a two-on-one break the other way.
Galchenyuk buried Radulov’s pass for his ninth goal of the season.
It was Price’s league-leading 13th win of the season.
How good has he been for Montreal? He has two losses, one in overtime, and has a .946 save percentage. He has allowed only 25 goals on 467 shots.
On Saturday, Price was almost outdone by Mrazek, who came up with 22 saves in regulation—including a highlight-of-the-year candidate on Artturi Lehkonen on one of the game’s first shifts.
Instead Montreal’s franchise player upped the ante—like he always does. If he keeps this up, there’s no telling how far he can take the Canadiens.
It would be purely speculative to say they’d be a bubble team at best without Price through the first 22 games. But it can be said without any doubt that they’d have lost on Saturday night in Detroit had it not been for his heroics.
