The Montreal Canadiens may have lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final to the New York Rangers, but in terms of Michel Therrien’s much talked-about decision to start Dustin Tokarski, the team essentially got a push.
The play of Tokarski wasn’t an enormous factor in a contest that was decided much more by brilliant play from Henrik Lundqvist and brain-dead penalties from the Habs.
So what now for Therrien, Tokarski and a team heading out on the road facing an 0-2 count?
Tokarski was tabbed in favour of professional backup Peter Budaj partially because the former has a history of winning big games at every pre-NHL level. He was seen as a calm, though inexperienced, puck-stopper with the mental makeup to thrive in a pressure-packed situation. After Monday’s 3-1 loss, the only part of that equation that’s tangibly different is Tokarski’s career resume, which now includes one more conference final game than such highly regarded NHLers as Pekka Rinne and Jimmy Howard.
What starting Tokarski was really about is the fact Therrien believed the 24-year-old Saskatchewan boy gave his club a better chance to win a huge tilt than Budaj did. That might seem like a stretch given Budaj’s standing as a quality No. 2, but look closer at the Slovakian’s history and you start to understand where Therrien is coming from. Don’t forget, this whole “Carey Price missing games because of a knee injury” thing isn’t new. The exact same thing happened in the first round of last year’s playoffs against the Ottawa Senators, when Price was forced the sidelines late in a tied Game 4. Budaj came in for overtime and promptly gave up an ugly goal to Kyle Turris that allowed Ottawa to seize a 3-1 series lead.
Sure, you could give Budaj a pass on that one given the tough circumstance of being thrown into the fire ice-cold. But what’s his excuse for Game 5? In that matchup, the Habs came out like a house on fire, firing 17 first-period shots against the Sens, but still ended the first 20 minutes down 2-1. Things spiraled out of control from there, and Ottawa dusted Budaj and the Canadiens 6-1 to close out the series. It wasn’t all the goalie’s fault, but the .793 save percentage didn’t help.
This year, Budaj was again pushed to the starter’s role when a knee injury—anybody noticing a theme here?—kept Price out of the lineup post-Olympics. With the Habs fighting to stay in a playoff position, Budaj went 2-5-0. In the two victories, he allowed a combined eight goals, and in five of the seven starts his save percentage was under .900.
Budaj backers will point to the strong spot starts he’s made in tough buildings—including a shutout last October in Madison Square Garden—as evidence he should get the call in Game 3. Those stellar showings on random regular-season nights are impressive but don’t trump the fact that on the last two occasions Montreal needed Budaj to take the ball and run, he’s fallen flat.
That had to weigh on Therrien’s mind when he opted to go with Tokarski in a Game 2 that was already creeping toward a life-and-death affair for the Canadiens. Given the stakes are even higher for Game 3, Therrien should stick with the kid who has a better shot at being the man for a desperate club.
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