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Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price or Tuukka Rask? Who do you start?

By Omar L

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins and Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens look on during the DraftKings NHL Accuracy Shooting event during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins and Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens look on during the DraftKings NHL Accuracy Shooting event during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Carey Price is the number one guy for the Montreal Canadiens and was the number one guy in the lead, but perhaps Tuukka Rask has taken that recognition.

The NHL Twitter account has put out some interesting stuff since Phase 3 began. Every day you’ll find some sort of poll asking who are the best dressed in the league, the most lethal trio, or who will have the most success in the Stanley Cup Qualifier. However, their question from Sunday got Hockey Twitter going a bit as it pinned Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins fans against each other (as if it was that hard to do so).

It’s along the lines of those ‘clutch’ scenarios. The question was who among these four goaltenders would be your starter: Carey Price, Tuukka Rask, Elvis Merzlikins or Carter Hart.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1287427926972149760

Hart is an up and coming goaltender who was a big part of the Philadelphia Flyers’ performance this year why Merzlikins had the same impact in Columbus while also coming out of nowhere. And aside from other fan bases commenting with their own team’s goaltender, there were arguments back and forth as to whether it should be Price or Rask.

There’s no doubt as to who has been the better goaltender statically between the two. Rask had a dominating year this season with a .929 save percentage and 26 wins after falling in the .910s for four years. Price hasn’t had a save percentage in the .920s since the 2016-17 season (.923) and has been polarizing in the net.

Context is important as well. Rask has had a stellar backup in Jaroslav Halak to split starts with and also has a better all-around team in front of him. The Montreal Canadiens haven’t had a reliable enough backup to help Price with starts, and the team itself has been far from a defensive masterpiece.

If we’re talking about each starter on their respective team, then Rask would be the obvious answer. However, if we’re just talking about them in a general sense, it would be hard not to give it to Price.

There’s a reason why his name continuously comes up in discussions about the Stanley Cup Qualifier. Everyone knows he has it in him to steal a series and come up big for a team in those high-octane situations. Some would point to the Habs’ season and say, “Well, why aren’t they better?” but the Montreal Canadiens haven’t played a game of worth in three years. And when they were in that situation, they struggled to give Price any goal support to fight through.

It’s an interesting question and one that you’ll likely go back on, but context is key. Perhaps Price will show the hockey world what their answer should be next week.

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