THE CANADIAN PRESS
BROSSARD, Que. — Carey Price said he knew what he doing when he raised his arms to the Bell Centre crowd in defiance of their booing, but he doesn’t want to leave the Montreal Canadiens.
"I made that particular gesture to remind people that booing doesn’t always help," the goaltender said Thursday, a day after the Canadiens were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in a four-game sweep by the Boston Bruins.
With Boston leading 4-1 late in the second period, the booing crowd gave a mock cheer to Price when the 21-year-old stopped an easy dump-in from the red line and he responded by raising his arms to them.
It was the same gesture used in December, 1995 by former goaltending great Patrick Roy on the night he demanded a trade from the Canadiens.
"It was a way of expressing myself," he said "They wanted to express themselves and I thought I would too.
"It seems since the Calder Cup and the world juniors there have been high expectations on me. I’d like to met them, but sometimes I’m not able to. Sometimes I think I’m put on too high a pedestal and get thrown under the bus too much."
However, he added that he wants to stay in Montreal, which he said was great place to play "when things go well."
Some of Price’s teammates showed support for him.
"I was on the bench and I felt bad for him," said forward Guillaume Latendresse. "Carey’s a competitor and I think it got to him.
"If that had happened to me, I’d have probably asked to get off the ice. It was as embarrassing for the rest of the players as it was for him."
