Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is currently away from the team and taking care of himself in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.
Price is one of the best goaltenders in the history of the Canadiens franchise and that is saying something considering the team used to feature the likes of Patrick Roy, Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante.
While we can debate where he ranks among Habs greats in goal, there is no question he was the best at his position for a number of years at the height of his game. In the 2014-15 season, Price won the Hart Trophy, Vezina Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award.
This was a year after he won a gold medal with Team Canada at the Winter Olympics after allowing just three goals in five games, including shutouts versus the United States in the semifinal and Sweden in the gold meal game. The 2013-14 season was also Price’s best playoff run with the Canadiens until last season.
Price was sensational in the 2014 postseason, leading the Canadiens past the favoured Boston Bruins in round two and moving them to the Eastern Conference Final where they would face the New York Rangers.
We all know what happened next. Price was violently run by Chris Kreider and injured his knee in Game 1 of that series. He would not return as Dustin Tokarski took over and the Habs lost in six games. Kreider diving into Price’s knee at full speed with his skates pretty much ended the Canadiens season.
That was seven years ago, but Kreider showed yesterday that he hasn’t changed all that much in nearly a decade.
He once again scored a goal against a Canadian team and also injured their goaltender at the same time. This time Matt Murray of the Ottawa Senators was the victim. Kreider tips in the puck and then steps mostly around Murray but knees him right in the side of the head. You may give a player the benefit of the doubt in this situation, but it is Chris Kreider so you really should not.
Matt Murray left for the locker room after taking a knee to the head on Chris Kreider's goal. pic.twitter.com/1nXyf22nky
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 23, 2021
If you still think it was accidental or he is not a dirty player, it wasn’t long before he did something just as dirty. With the Rangers winning late, and the puck in the offensive zone, so the game is basically over, Kreider ran Josh Norris from behind into the boards.
Norris was not injured on the play, though Murray did not return to action. For some reason, the league has chosen not to look at the Kreider hit on Norris, but the Department of Player Safety has proven to be completely useless in the past, so this is no surprise.
Kreider ended the Canadiens season in 2014, not with his goal, but by injuring Price. You would think he has matured over the past seven years, but clearly he hasn’t changed his game.