CANADIENS
Montreal

4-5

JETS
Winnipeg

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Byron – Drouin – Gallagher
Galchenyuk – De La Rose – Lehkonen
Scherbak – L. Shaw – Rychel
Deslauriers – McCarron – Carr
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Schlemko – Petry
Alzner – Juulsen
Reilly – Lernout

[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Niemi

Scratches

Jordie Benn, Byron Froese

Injuries

Charles Hudon, Ales Hemsky – concussion, Shea Weber – lower-body, Victor Mete – hand, Max Pacioretty – lower-body, Rinat Valiev – lower-body, Phillip Danault – upper body, Andrew Shaw – upper-body

Game Report 

At the end of the last game report, I wondered whether Canadiens goaltender Carey Price would ever get the recognition he deserved in Montreal. Well, a small down payment was made on Tuesday night.

As CBC Montreal’s Douglas Gelevan noted, Bell Centre fans delivered the loudest and longest ovation of the season in honouring Price. The occasion was a new record of 557 games played for Price, tops in franchise history for Canadiens’ goaltenders.

Given the viciousness of the Montreal media and some fans towards Price and his family, it was an important moment. We were all reminded that there are still some rational hockey minds left who respect and acknowledge what Price has given to the Canadiens organization, his teammates and to Habs fans.

Price delivered a superb performance with a handful of spectacular saves in the first period alone. But the Canadiens simply don’t have the talent at the player or coaching level to compete with the Winnipeg Jets this season. And that holds true even given that the Jets were missing Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry, Jacob Trouba, Josh Morrissey and Connor Hellebuyck.

And the Canadiens most certainly don’t have a person of Price’s calibre in any other role in the organization: player, management nor owner. And given the organizational insistence at fishing only in the shallow end of the pond, it is unlikely that the Habs will rise to the the performance level of Price. That is exactly what is necessary to win the Stanley Cup.

===

▲  Carey Price, Alex Galchenyuk, Artturi Lehkonen, Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron, Jeff Petry

▼  Mike Reilly, Logan Shaw, Nicolas Deslauriers, Jonathan Drouin, Karl Alzner

1. Kyle Connor  WPG
2. Paul Byron  MTL
3. Jeff Petry  WPG

• “I appreciated the effort tonight. It’s disappointing to lose, always a bit frustrating, especially the way the guys competed against a team that has a lot more depth than us.”

Carey Price

• “It was definitely an emotional moment for myself. I didn’t expect it to be, but that video and that ovation was something that I really needed. I’m really thankful and I really appreciate that.”
• “Through all the hard times that we’ve gone through this year, to have the crowd stand up and appreciate that, that really meant a lot to me.”
• “It was kind of hard to hear [the messages from Roy and Dryden], but I’ve had the pleasure of meeting those guys. It means a lot to me that they took the time to send me a message.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

#Habs Price, still emotional after the game, admitted being moved to tears over the video tribute and especially the ovation from the crowd. He said he “needed it,” meaning the profound support from fans after a very difficult season.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) April 4, 2018

Félicitations/congratulations @CP0031 ! An amazing accomplishment! Here’s to many more! #GHG

— Geoff Molson (@GMolsonCHC) April 4, 2018

Drouin with a no look pass to absolutely nobody… #Habs lose possession, and the game shortly afterwards. @AllHabs @RocketSports

— Matt Smith (@Snakebite350) April 4, 2018

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