Carey Price Injured In Montreal Canadiens Blowout Win
The Montreal Canadiens headed into Madison Square Garden tonight to take on the New York Rangers in a battle between two of the top teams in the National Hockey League after one quarter of the season.
It was expected two of the best defensive teams with Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist, who are the two best goaltenders in the league, would result in a tight, low-scoring game. That would not be the case tonight, and neither Vezina Trophy candidate would still be between the pipes when the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Sven Andrighetto opened the scoring for the Habs as the newly formed second line of Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk with the 21 year old Swiss winger came out flying for the second straight game. Eller forced a turnover at center ice and controlled the puck into the Rangers zone before working it back to P.K. Subban at the point. Subban’s point blast was tipped by Eller before Andrighetto pounced on a rebound and sent it over a sprawling Lundqvist to open the scoring just 4:45 into the game.
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The score would remain 1-0 after the first period as Price and Lundqvist lived up to their pre-game billing as the best puck stoppers in the world.
Early in the second period, Devante Smith-Pelly banged in a one-timer after a perfect pass from Max Pacioretty set him up in the slot. Smith-Pelly was playing up on the top line in place of Brendan Gallagher who missed his first game of the season with a broken finger.
The Rangers would pull within one before heading into the second intermission, but the biggest news of the game came when the teams headed back out for the final frame. Hanging on to a 2-1 lead, Canadiens goaltender and defending league MVP was not with the team when they came back onto the ice, injured after apparently re-aggravating a leg injury that he suffered in Edmonton on October 30.
Therrien says he tweaked the same injury. Price played after it so this is not tragic but time to rest this until fully healthy. #Habs
— Brian Wilde (@BWildeMTL) November 26, 2015
The injury forced him to miss nine games earlier this month before he returned to the lineup on Friday in Brooklyn where he helped the Habs defeat the New York Islanders in back-to-back games last weekend.
Though the Habs played well and went on a 5-2-2 run without their number one goaltender, it is still terrible news that he is injured once again. Price was replaced by Mike Condon who filled in admirably when Price was first injured.
The Habs goal scorers stepped up in Price’s absence, and Smith-Pelly scored a beautiful goal to make the score 3-1 less than a minute into the third. Alex Galchenyuk put the Habs ahead 4-1 when he rifled a wrist shot over the shoulder of Lundqvist 1:29 into the third period, putting the game out of reach for the Rangers.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Pacioretty finished off the scoring, and finished Lundqvst’s night early when he tucked in a perfect pass from Galchenyuk on a power play midway through the third period.
The 5-1 score stood as the Habs improved their record to 17-4-2 and pushed ahead of the Rangers for first place in the overall standings. It was quite an impressive performance for the Habs, going into New York and taking out a Rangers team that was tied for first in the NHL standings heading into the game.
However, the big win came at a cost. Last year’s top goaltender and league MVP left the game after the second period, tweaking an injury that he returned from less than a week ago.
Next: Is Andrighetto In Habs Top Six For Good?
The Canadiens were able to overcome Price’s injury earlier this month, but it would be a lot to ask Condon to take the crease and carry the load for another extended stretch of games. The Habs proved they were more than just Price when he was injured earlier this season. However, with injuries piling up, the Canadiens need their starting goaltender to help them stay atop the league standings.
Hopefully it is nothing serious and the team is just being cautious with their most valuable asset. The Habs were able to avoid disaster without Price once, but they can’t play with fire too many times before they get burned.