As stunning as the Penguins’ loss to the Montreal Canadiens was in the qualifying round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, it wasn’t surprising that Canadiens franchise goaltender Carey Price was one of the primary reasons for the result.
It might be a stretch to say Price was tested in Game 4, but he made 22 saves in a 2-0 victory at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena that clinched the best-of-five series, 3-1. It was his sixth career postseason shutout.
For the series, Price made 126 saves on 133 shots for a save percentage of .947. That mark is the sixth-best percentage by a goaltender in a playoff series against the Penguins all time.
“Game 1, he was really, really good,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said via video conference from Toronto. “We threw a lot at him. We had some quality chances. I think he just made some timely saves. I don’t think we were passing up shots. Looking back, we hit some posts. He just played really well.
“We know he’s a great goalie. I don’t think it was a matter of trying to play around him. But he did what we expected him to do and he gave his team a chance to win. Unfortunately, we didn’t do a good enough job of putting pucks in the net or when we got a lead, building on it. That’s what you need to do against any team but especially in this situation.”
Price’s teammates sung his praises following the game.
“Just having him back there, he’s the backbone for us,” defenseman Shea Weber said. “He’s so solid every night. That allows us to play with confidence, not be worried about giving up chances. Obviously, we want to maintain the structure that we’ve had. We were a lot tighter than we have been in the past and kept a lot of stuff to the outside. So I think knowing having him back there and the way he plays the pucks on (dump-in attempts) and the rebound control he had in the series helped, not only the (defensemen) but everybody.”
Note: Penguins forward Jared McCann returned to the lineup for Game 4 after being a healthy scratch in Game 3. He logged 10 minutes, 34 seconds of ice time on 15 shifts, had one shot and was 3 for 10 (30 percent) in the faceoff circle.
