CANADIENS
Montreal

4-3

RED WINGS
Detroit

Game Report

In the 100-plus years of the Montreal Canadiens franchise, there has never been a goaltending performance like this.  With his 43 victories, Carey Price has taken the torch from Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden to be the record holder of wins by a Canadiens goaltender.  And without diminishing the accomplishments of those who came before him, no goaltender has been asked to take on the burden of carrying his team for most games this season.

Take note Habs fans. In Price, you are witnessing hockey greatness that will be referenced for many years to come.

It’s clear that Price’s teammates recognize his leadership on and off the ice.  The way they mobbed Price after the game and the shaving cream ‘pie’ was high praise indeed. The team was thrilled for Price and his shiny new record.  And they are acutely aware that if there are to be any more successes this season, it will be Price who delivers it to them.

Like most games, the Canadiens were outplayed (and outcoached.) The Red Wings are a puck possession team; they skate well, pass accurately and manage the puck smartly. All else being equal, Detroit would have won this game handily.

Despite giving up three goals, Price was solid especially as the Red Wings forced turnovers, exploiting the Habs team defense.  Scoring chances as tabulated by war-on-ice.com were 23-16 for Detroit.  The Canadiens offense, particularly without its leading scorer, was content to play a perimeter game.

Fortunately they weren’t facing Carey Price at the other end of the ice.  Of the four Canadiens goals, Detroit head coach Mike Babcock thought that three of them were bad goals (specifically mentioning goals by Jeff Petry, Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller.)  Post-game Babcock said, “They can’t go in, period.  It’s the National Hockey League, they can’t go in.”

Oh, what Babcock would give to have Price manning the crease for him again as he did in Sochi, Russia!

It’s very fitting in game 81 that the player who played a significant part in delivering win 43 for Price was none other than Lars Eller. It was Eller’s 15th goal of the season, that’s fifth best for Habs forwards. It was also Eller’s seventh game-winning goal, second only to Max Pacioretty.

Not bad at all for a player who isn’t put in an offensive role and is saddled with a great deal of defensive responsibility. Tonight was no exception. With the Tomas Plekanec line giving up two goals to the Red Wings top trio of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Tatar (thanks to turnovers by Brendan Gallagher), Michel Therrien made a switch giving Eller and his line the defensive assignment.  Datsyuk and co. were held in check from that point on.

The single assist on Eller’s game-winner came from Jeff Petry. With a goal and an assist in this game, Petry now has seven points as a Canadien and a six-game points streak.  It will be difficult for Marc Bergevin to come up with the dollars for Petry as he cashes in on his UFA status.  Although there are two players currently on the second line not pulling their weight but consuming $7.5M of the cap. David Desharnais was 33 per cent at the faceoff dot, had four minutes in penalties and did not register a shot on goal.

The Canadiens power-play connected once on four opportunities. The goal came during a two-man advantage, only the second goal on a 5-on-3 this season for the Habs.  And the Canadiens gave up a shorthanded goal to Detroit.  Teams can pressure Subban and Markov at the points because they don’t fear the forwards on the first wave of the power-play.  Despite being perfect tonight, the penalty-kill is struggling right now dropping from a league-ranked third to tenth giving up 15 goals since March 1st.

There seems to be a debate about whether or not Carey Price should play against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game could play a part determining the winner of the Atlantic division.  There should be no debate, Price should get the night off. In fact, Mike Condon should get the call up to back Dustin Tokarski.  The risk of any other approach is too high.  Surely Tokarski should be able to defeat the Leafs.

▲     Carey Price, Jeff Petry, Lars Eller, Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban

▼     Brendan Gallagher, David Desharnais, P.A. Parenteau, Alex Galchenyuk

1.  Carey Price  MTL
2.  Pavel Datsyuk  DET
3.  Lars Eller  MTL

• “I’m very proud of Carey. To set a Canadiens record is phenomenal.  We’re talking about the history of the Montreal Canadiens. That’s more than 100 years of history.”
• “As we got closer to the end of the season, we really wanted to see this happen for him. It’s pretty phenomenal and we are really privileged to be part of that. He’s an exceptional person and a great leader.”
• “I certainly believe [Carey Price] deserves the Hart trophy. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best player in the league right now. He’s the player who has the most impact on games. Even if there are a lot of good players having good seasons, Carey Price deserves that trophy.”
• “I’ve coached a lot of good players – exceptional players – in the past, and he’s right there with them. It’s always special to coach those types of players. He’s a unique guy. There’s one thing I know: we’re glad to have him.”

Carey Price

• “I definitely have a lot of respect for what they accomplished in their careers. [Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden] went on to obviously win Stanley Cups, and that’s my ultimate goal.”
• “That’s probably the most outlandish [celebration] you’re going to see for a regular season win, that’s for sure. It was actually kind of fitting that a guy who doesn’t talk very much (Alexei Emelin) comes up behind me and pies me. I’m very close with him. He’s done a very good job all season long. I’ll let it slide this time.”
• “It’s his comrade, for sure. It’s Marky (Andrei Markov). It’s pretty cool. It shows how tight of a unit we are. We have an outstanding group of guys and they’ve really made it enjoyable to come to the rink all year. They’ve really given it their all all season long and I can’t thank them enough.”
• “It’s been working all season long with goal setting and looking forward. I don’t want to start resting on a good season yet. I’ve always been a guy that kind of looks forward. Now that that’s over with, I’m just looking forward to getting started with the playoffs.”

Jeff Petry

• “Every game we want to obviously get the win and to get the one tonight is great but I don’t think we should come off the gas at all in our next game. We’ve got to have a strong finish going into the playoffs.”

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock

• “I thought we were playing good. I thought they had three bad goals. I thought we did lots of good things and could have found a way to win, sometimes it doesn’t happen. Some nights you pick up your goalie, some nights he picks you up, that’s just the way it goes.”
• “The bottom line is we found a way to get in the playoffs and we needed 98 points, if you can believe it, to get in the playoffs. I thought 96 would be enough, and we needed 98, and I’m thrilled to do that.”
• “Well, they can’t go in, period. It’s the National Hockey League, they can’t go in.”
• On Brendan Smith’s penalty for playing the puck from the bench, “We should have went to the box. It should have been 5-on-3.”