Carey Price may want to track down fellow goaltender Jim Craig after Wednesday night’s game against Pittsburgh. After all – the two have a pair of things in common.
They both tended goal on a team that performed miracles and the duo both disappeared shortly thereafter. Craig skated into hockey trivia lore after a very brief stint with Atlanta , Boston and Minnesota while Carey Price did his ‘ Houdini ‘ midway through the second period against the Pens.
Given the fact that the Habs number one net minder is the reason that the Canadiens are only eight points back of first place in the Conference , there is no reason to panic following Carey’s poor play.
Price resorted back to his former 2009 – 10 self on Wednesday. The twenty –three year old gave up two weak goals that let the air out of the Canadiens ‘ balloon. This was the knock on Price last season. No matter how many great saves he made, there was always a wayward shot that somehow ‘snuck in ‘. A softie. The type of shot that made the most die-hard Grandmothers shake their heads and head back to the kitchen and prepare Tortiere Pies.
Perfection
Montreal fans do not accept a ninety – nine percent effort. The majority of the team’s fans, the season tickets holders and the people that have built shrines in their basements – are French Canadians. Passionate people that donate not just their hard earned money to their hockey team – their emotions as well. These folks did not enjoy being shortchanged by Price last season and they will certainly not put up with the type of goals Carey let in on Wednesday. Price traveled through the Devil’s playground and back in the past two years. He learned his lesson better than most and amid a backlash of the Halak trade, not only did he mature on the ice, the boy became a man. Or did he?
In the past week, the net minder is showing signs, albeit brief ones, of his old immature self. The ‘self ‘ that left his net to body check a player. The ‘self ‘ that shot the puck at a Washington player after that player scored a goal. Price is young and appears to be the type of person that follows his own drumbeat.
How many players in the NHL ride in the Rodeo during the off – season? Not many . This  facet of his personality is exactly what gets him into trouble. Price does not seem to understand that there are (rightly or wrongly), unwritten rules in the National Hockey League. The league , in the past twenty years , has done it’s best to rid itself of any player that bucks the system and does not adhere to rules that are dictated to the players before each new season gets underway.
When the Habs defeated the Penguins at the Bell Center last week, Price made a ‘ Gangsta ‘ gesture by folding his arms once the game was over and the win was in the bank. Basketball players do it all the time and it is accepted probably because everyone does it. Hockey players are – more often than not, polite law-abiding athletes that play the game and go home to their wives. The single ones that do not have wives are more apt to get into trouble, as a rule – they do not .
Sure, there is the occasional aberration such as Sean Avery and Patrick Kane yet considering the amount of players in the league, the incidents are almost not noteworthy. Hockey players are not angels , they are boys and men – they get into their share of trouble. Their troubles are quite contrite compared to the athletes in other sports.
Respect ?
When a player such as Price does something ‘out of sorts ‘ in the hockey world, the teams take notice and gathers strength from whatever it is that gets them irked. Price’ s  ‘ gangsta – rism ‘ was probably done in pure fun.
In Montreal, the players are not allowed to relax as much as other cities because of the intense pressure to win and the media scrutiny that ensues. Price’s triple low five routine that he does with Subban after wins  is as much an indication of a man who ‘ rides his own horse ‘ as much as it is an indication of an inner desire to relieve stress.
Carey Price is the person that everyone should listen to when he says “chill “ as he did in the pre – season when his play was raising alarm at the Bell Center. Players around the league should probably follow him all the way out west and learn how to rope a calf or two. Price may well be an innovator who may eventually alter how players and the NHL react in this politically correct era in which we live.
Currently, the players are set in their polite ways. The mentality is play hard and hit hard. Once the game is finished, defeat is accepted with grace and winning is received with class. Bet the farm that Price’s gesture at the end of the Pittsburgh win was added to every Penguin’s Blackberry under ‘ R ’ for revenge. In a game that saw the Habs surrender four power play goals and were outplayed badly in the last half of a 5 – 2 loss, the last thing they needed was for Fleury to cross his arms and imitate Price as the final siren sounded to end the game. What goes around – comes around.
The NHL and it’s players are not ready for Carey Price. The young goalie must learn to pick his spots until they are ready or risk playing in a market where the fans do not know the difference between a puck and a chocolate bunny.
Chocolate bunnies disappear pretty quick as well.