“Because the demands on a goalie are mostly mental, it means that for a goalie, the biggest enemy is himself. Not a puck, not an opponent, not a quirk of size or style. Him. The stress and anxiety he feels when he plays, the fear of failing, the fear of being embarrassed, the fear of being physically hurt, all the symptoms of his position, in constant ebb and flow, but never disappearing. The successful goalie understands these neuroses, accepts them, and puts them under control. The unsuccessful goalie is distracted by them, his mind in knots, his body quickly following.” — Ken Dryden

By Stevo, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. —  This season, Carey Price has brought his mental game to a whole other level.  Never has an NHL goaltender faced so much pressure coming into a season, but thus far, he has delivered and seems to have battled the demons that were haunting him throughout last season.

Following a preseason that had half of the city of Montreal still playing violins over the departure of Jaroslav Halak, Carey Price demonstrated why Pierre Gauthier made the right decision in keeping him as the Montreal Canadiens starting goaltender.

Price was dominant to start the season, had a minor slump at a time of the season where the Canadiens were on their notable dreaded western road trip, playing their worst hockey of the season.  Lately however, we have seen the Carey Price that was so dominant early in the season.

“Every goalie will have some sort of mental meltdown at some point. It’s going to hit you. It’s just a matter of when. The key is learning to handle it. That often differentiates the great goalies from the ones who have less success. Goaltending is all mental.” — Glen Hanlon

In his last ten starts, Carey Price has a record of  five wins (two by shutout), four losses and and a shootout loss.  His goals against average (GAA) over this period was 2.77, and his save percentage (Sv%) was 0.918%.  He faced an average of over 34 shots per game over these ten games, and it should be noted that a 6-8 loss to Boston plays into the numbers a little.  It’s impressive that he managed to maintain a winning record over this period seeing as the Canadiens averaged less goals per game scored than their opponents. (2.7 vs. 2.8)

Price has been most impressive in his last four starts coming off of the loss to the Calgary Flames at the Heritage Classic.  He’s put up a record of 4 wins and no losses, one of his wins coming by the way of a shutout.   Over these four games, his GAA is a meager 1.25, while his Sv% is impressive at 0.968%.  Although this is only a four game period, it’s impressive for many reasons:

The four games were won outside of the Northeast division, which the Canadiens have struggled to do this season.

While the Canadiens only allowed five goals over this period, they scored 14 for an average of 3.5 per game.

The Canadiens were heavily outshot over these four games (102 vs. 155), with Price facing an average of close to 39 shots per game, while his opponents were only facing on average 25.5.

So where does this all hang in the balance?  Here are Carey Price’s stats for the season as of today:

(GP = Games Played, W = Wins, SA = Save Attempts, GAA = Goals Against Average, Sv = Saves, Sv% = Save Percentage, SO = Shutouts, A = Assists, PIM = Penalties in Minutes, TOI = Time on Ice)

Talks of Carey Price being up there as a candidate for the Vezina trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender are surging all around.  We are even starting to here talk of Price in conversations about the Hart Trophy, awarded to the league’s most valuable player.  Rightfully so I might add.

Here I was Saturday afternoon listening to the Simon Tsalikis show on Montreal’s the Team 990, and their guest Corey Landsberg had a different take on Carey Price and the Hart trophy.  I know what you’re saying, who is Corey Landsberg?  From what I can tell, he’s based in Toronto, has an on-line radio show.

His Hart trophy candidate was none other than Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer.  I am the first to say that I am impressed with this kid, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

Reimer has only started 20 games this season, but does show a winning record of 12 wins, five losses and three OT losses.  His GAA sits at 2.45 and his Sv% is an impressive 0.924.  He has two shutouts.

Although he said this, I’d like to focus my attention on something else he said in regards to Carey Price, and yes, he brought Halak into the conversation.

“(…) If the Habs don’t get past the first round, then everybody in Montreal will be screaming that Pierre Gauthier kept the wrong guy (…)  Halak has proven that he can win in the playoffs, and if the Habs go out in the first round, people in Montreal will doubt whether Carey Price can win in the playoffs (…)”

I guess Mr. Landsberg doesn’t know anything about aging and maturing.  Maybe he’s looked up Carey Price’s career playoff stats and noticed that in fact, Price doesn’t have stellar numbers.  In 19 games, he has five wins and 11 losses, a GAA of 3.17 and a Sv% of 0.894%.

“I don’t think I’m any different from any other athlete. If you have confidence, you will play well.” – Ron Tugnutt

What Mr. Landsberg fails to see or realize is that Carey Price is still only twenty-three years of age, not even in his prime, yet he’s having the best season of his career and this has a tremendous effect on one’s confidence and mental state.  Only time will tell what he can do in the playoffs as an NHL goaltender, but to even suggest a goalie controversy is in the makings in Montreal is both a mix of one getting ahead of himself, all while being stuck in the past.

Speaking of the past, for someone who’s so hot on Reimer, does he not remember all of the other Maple Leaf goalies who were highly praised for having strong starts with the team, but who slowly disappeared out of the picture?  (Giguere, Gustavsson, Toskala)

He went on to ask the host of the show Simon Tsalikis, “Who would you prefer to have as your goaltender, the Carey Price of this season, or the Jaroslav Halak of last year’s playoffs?”

Wow, he really wants to drive his point doesn’t he?  The question in itself makes no sense, he might as well have asked whether the Habs would have a better chance of winning with the Carey Price of this season, or Patrick Roy and his Stanley Cup run of 1986.

The reality is that this season, between Price and Halak, Price is the better goaltender, most people in Montreal who did not believe this have come to realize it, and if the Canadiens do not make it past the first round of the playoffs like many are skeptical that they can, the injuries and lack of goal scoring are likely to be to blame, and not the goaltender who’s been the star of this team throughout the season.

Carey Price said before the start of the season that the only way he could calm the skeptics was to win games, he has done that, but it seems that even that is not enough to keep the controversies away.

“There are a few things all hockey parents desire for their kids: That they have fun, they learn about character and teamwork. And most important of all… That they don’t want to play goalie.” – James Duthie, TSN

(Graphic: Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)