Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
On Wednesday night, Carey Price seemingly won all of the awards at the NHL Awards Ceremony. He had an amazing season, which earned him the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. It is hard to argue that he didn’t deserve it. He led all goalies in wins, goals against average and save percentage. The last time that was done was Ed Belfour way back in 1991. He led the Montreal Canadiens to their best season in over 25 years.
Despite being the best player in the league, however, this season will be looked at as a disappointment for Price and the Canadiens. The way the Canadiens, and Price especially, were ousted by the Tampa Bay Lightning put a huge black eye on the season in general. The Lightning did not seem like they were much better than the Canadiens, but they ended up leading the series 3-0 at one point.
Despite only having 30-plus shots once in the series, the Lightning were able to win four out of six games against the best goalie in the world.
For the series, Price had a save percentage under .900. On the other side of the ice, the Canadiens were shooting on Ben Bishop, who had been inconsistent in the playoffs. It seemed like he was playing his best hockey in the previous series against the Ottawa Senators. Craig Anderson played out of his mind, but Price was just better. It looked like that was the start of a deep run in the playoffs. Six games later, the season was over.
Fans know that Price is the best goalie in the league right now. Unfortunately, this could have gone down as one of the best seasons of all time, and it did not. The playoff flame-out will be what is remembered from this season. It isn’t all Price’s fault, but he is the face of the team. They live and die with his play between the pipes. Price has a lot of hardware to take home, but he would no doubt trade it all to play for a Stanley Cup.
Nick Villano is the NHL feature writer for Rant Sports. He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.
