Price Holds Strong To Give Montreal The Win

Added on Dec 08, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Another fantastic performance by Canadiens’ Carey Price gave Montreal an easy win against the struggling Ottawa Senators. Price, who stopped stopped 27 of 28, humbly said after the game “Especially the last couple of games, it’s been all the team. I’m just in there filling space, really, because we’ve been playing so well. I’ve just been taking up oxygen out there, really.”

Over the last six games Price’s save percentage is .949, and it is that very team defense Price was lauding that makes his numbers so impressive. Coach Jacques Martin “The key to Carey’s play is that he’s been able to keep his concentration and he’s been able to make the save when called upon. It’s been nice to give him good support.”

The game was tied going into the third period, and the Canadiens came out on fire. “We came back in here and we knew we had an opportunity to win a hockey game,” said Price, who turned aside all 13 shots he faced in the second to keep the game tied. “It was still 1-1 and it was up to us to play out the 20 minutes, and we did it.”

Jeff Halpern, Brian Gionta and Roman Hamrlik scored third-period goals to give Montreal the win. The Canadiens are 8-1-1 at home since a 3-2 loss to the Senators on Nov. 6. Halpren heaped the praise right back on his goalie, “We’ve said all year that our goalie’s given us a chance to win every game. When we’ve had a couple of lulls in our season, he’s come out with unbelievable performances. Halpren concluded “He covers up a lot of mistakes that we make as a team, but he also gives us confidence to feel good about the way we’re playing and to get on things.”

Montreal Captain Brian Gionta, who also had a goal and an assist, said of Price “He gives us a chance to stay patient and stay with our game. He stands on his head making big saves for us, timely saves for us, it allows us to stay on our game and stay patient.”

Nick Foligno scored late in the first on the power play for the Senators, who fell to 3-7-1 in their last 11, said after the game “They’re such a strong team when you let them get going, and that seemed to be the case tonight. We just kind of let them gain too much momentum, and they took advantage of it.”

The Montreal Canadiens (18-8-2, 38pts), 1st in Northeast Division, will play the Detroit Redwings (17-5-3, 37pts) on Friday in Detroit. The Ottawa Senators (12-15-2, 26pts), 3rd in Northeast Division, face the (16-12-1, 33pts) New York Rangers at home.