2021 Stanley Cup Final: Vintage postseason Carey Price has to return for Game 4
Carey Price needs to deliver in the biggest of ways in Game 4 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
This was shaping out to be the year of Carey Price with the Montreal Canadiens goaltender putting a below-average regular season behind him to absolutely dominate the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the magic has worn off so far in the Stanley Cup Final.
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Everything has gone wrong for the Habs in their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and their season is now on the brink with the Bolts just one win away from repeating as Stanley Cup Champions.
It could be mission accomplished for the Lightning as soon as Monday if they are able to win Game 4 in Montreal, but the Canadiens will hope to restore a little pride by winning at least one game and forcing the series back to Tampa.
If they are to do that, however, they will need vintage postseason Price to return and perform the kind of heroics that were commonplace throughout the first three rounds of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Entering Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Price had a stellar 2.02 Goals Against Average and a .934 Save Percentage to his name, with the one-time Vezina Trophy winner standing on his head and winning games on his own for the Habs.
Carey Price has to be at the peak of his powers in Game 4 for Habs
He played a starring role in the series wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Winnipeg Jets and especially in the semifinal against the juggernaut that is the Vegas Golden Knights, and he was seen as a leading Conn Smythe contender heading into the Stanley Cup Final.
Price was also seen as the key to postseason glory for the Canadiens who last won the Stanley Cup in 1993, with elite goaltending needed in order to stop the wrecking ball that is Tampa Bay and their pursuit of history.
However, just as nothing has gone right for Montreal in this series so far, it has all gone horribly wrong for Price who has resembled the goaltender that struggled through the regular season as opposed to the one who refused to be beat in the first three rounds of the Playoffs.
Just look at his Save Percentage in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final – .815, .870 and .828 – that just isn’t going to get the job done and poor goaltending will be the story of the Canadiens’ downfall if and when it is confirmed.
The eye test also confirms that Price isn’t operating at the same level he was, with the veteran giving up at least one soft goal in each of the three games and not giving off the same unbeatable aura he once was.
Granted, you can’t really blame the 33-year-old for Game 1 given that he was left exposed by his defense time and time again and he had to deal with a constant barrage of screens, leading to three of Tampa’s goals coming on deflections.
Setting up screens in front of the net and taking Price’s eyes away from him has been a recipe for success for the Lightning, and it is a blueprint they’ve followed in Games 2 & 3 with Anthony Cirelli scoring through traffic in Game 2 and Jan Rutta and Victor Hedman both had luck with the same gameplan in Game 3.
Tampa also did an excellent job of following up their own rebounds on Friday as Price was beaten by Kucherov and Johnson twice in similar circumstances, although he wasn’t helped by his teammates committing a plethora of cardinal sins and sloppy mistakes.
That’s been the story of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final so far with careless play by Montreal being punctuated by less than stellar goaltending, while Andrei Vasilevskiy has faced more 18 more shots than Price and boasts a far better Save Percentage (.954), outshining his counterpart by quite some distance.
Next. Habs out of their weight class. dark
With their season on the line, the Montreal Canadiens need some heroics right now just to stay alive let alone anything else, and if they are to live to fight another day, then they will have to hope that Price can channel his frustration and translate it to a monster statement night in Game 4.