Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price Never Should Have Finished Monday Night’s Game

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has dealt with several injuries over the course of his career.

The Habs have relied on him heavily over the years and every time he has been sidelined, the team has struggled mightily. This year’s version might be deeper than previous instalments, but that is no reason to risk Carey Price’s health in a regular season game.

Though, that’s exactly what happened on Monday night.

Price was in goal against the Edmonton Oilers at the Bell Centre. There was an awkward play where he came out of his crease and made a little contact with an Oilers skater. Price then twisted somewhat awkwardly and looked pretty uncomfortable for a second. His right knee, groin or thigh appeared to be tweaked in the incident.

However, Price remained in the game. On a power play shortly after the contact, Price was sliding to his right almost uncontrollably. Whenever he went down in his butterfly he appeared to not know how to stop himself from sliding to the right.

Yet, he stayed in the game the rest of the night.

He did make this ridiculous two-pad stack save shortly after the injury, but that doesn’t mean he should have stayed in the game.

It was pretty clear to anyone watching the game that something wasn’t right with Price after that contact. Why was it obvious to every Habs fan on twitter that Price should have been pulled but his own coaches and trainers weren’t concerned?

After the game, Dominique Ducharme touched on it by saying it was nothing serious and Price is now day-to-day. How is he “day-to-day” after the game, but allowed to play half of Monday’s game after suffering the injury?

Back in 2015-16, the Canadiens were off to a great start, until Price stepped on a puck during warm up in Alberta. He played that night, made things worse and then missed the rest of the season. The team was horrific without him, missing the postseason by a wide margin after leading the NHL standings after the first month.

They would likely be able to stay afloat better now with their current roster, but why risk losing Price long term in hopes of a miracle comeback in a regular season game halfway through the season?

The Canadiens did pull off a great comeback, scoring twice early in the third period to erase a two goal deficit before Eric Staal’s overtime winning goal.

The ends don’t justify the means in this case. The win puts the Habs eight points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks for the final playoff spot and the Habs have still played two less games.

Is extending that gap from six to eight points with 21 games left on the schedule worth risking losing Carey Price for the rest of the season?

No. It was not. Jake Allen was brought in to ensure Price is healthy and rested as the postseason arrives. If they aren’t going to put him in when Price is clearly labouring, they may as well have Mike Condon on the bench again.