Montreal Canadiens: Top 3 Reasons Habs Could Surprise In 2020 Postseason
1. Carey Price
Carey Price is the x-factor of all x-factors in the most unique and unpredictable playoff scenarios we have seen in the history of hockey. So much so, that apparently a big reason that the play-in series in five games instead of three is that players thought it was not fair that some team would have to beat Price two out of three games just to make the playoffs.
If that doesn’t tell you the Habs have the ultimate ace up their sleeve, I don’t know what does. Players in the league were actually afraid to play the 24th ranked team because their goaltender is too good? That’s wild stuff.
Anyway, Price hasn’t put up the insane numbers lately that he was posting a few years ago. But, could he catch fire and dial the clock back to 2015 for a few weeks, or months this summer? Why not? He is only 32 years old, which means he is getting up there for a professional goaltender, but he isn’t finished yet.
The last time the Habs made the playoffs, they were stymied by a 35 year old Henrik Lundqvist. “The King” as he affectionally calls himself, had a 2.74 GAA and a .910 SV% that regular season, but held the Habs to 11 goals in six playoff games.
Price could definitely do something similar to the Penguins to get the Habs into the 2020 postseason. In fact, he could do a lot more than that. He could do what Lundqvist did when he was 32 years old, carry his team to the Stanley Cup Final with a .927 SV%.
In his last three playoff seasons, Price has posted save percentages of .933 in six games, .920 in 12 games and .919 in 12 games. With a healthy, youthful team in front of him this playoffs, Carey Price posting those kind of numbers could be enough to carry this team on a deep run.
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At the very least, they are going to have the longest playoff run of any 24th seed in NHL history. It is hard for a team that has been around as long as the Montreal Canadiens to set a franchise record, but a 24th seed playing a playoff game is definitely something we haven’t seen before.