Carey Price shows a petulant disposition
"His so-so play is not the issue here. His behaviour is - big-time."
by Jack Todd, The Gazette
Had Patrick Roy behaved as Carey Price did at the Bell Centre Wednesday night, this province would be aflame.
The open-mouth shows would be wall-to-wall Price. The twits would tweet. A way would have to be found for the show called Attaque à Cinq to ramp up to Attaque à Six.
Instead, for reasons that are as mysterious as the workings of the universe, it's relatively quiet out there. What little is being said focuses, incredibly, on the young goaltender's alleged "passion."
Listen, folks. I can think of some words to describe Price's behaviour against the Capitals. "Passion" does not come into play. Petulance, absolutely. Poor sportsmanship. Selfishness. Above all, what Price did was almost unbelievably bush-league. Something you might expect to see in the "Q," perhaps, but never in the National Hockey League and absolutely not from a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens.
In case you missed it, let's review what happened. The first incident took place right below where I was sitting in the pressbox. Frankly, I couldn't believe my eyes.
The Washington Capitals' Jason Chimera (a thorn in the Canadiens' side throughout this series) had just scored his team's fourth goal to put Game 4 effectively out of reach.
After the goal Price, slowly, deliberately, and with malice aforethought, fished the puck out of the net and fired it directly at the celebrating Washington players, thumping one of them on the butt.
"You have to let them know you're there," Price said after, in one of the more amazing utterances to come from his mouth. As Gazette sports editor Stu Cowan, who was sitting beside me at the time, wrote later on his blog, "if you want to let 'em know you're there, stop the damn puck!"
Now Price wasn't going to do any damage shooting a puck at a player with a goal stick. But the thought was there. Actually, "thought" is being way too generous. For the umpteenth time in Baby Huey's short NHL career, the alleged future pillar of this franchise had chosen to act like a spoiled, immature brat. Nor was he through.
Within the next five minutes, Price would step up to the top of his crease to cross-check Brooks Laich in the back. Somehow, he got away with that one - but he still wasn't through. As Nicklas Backstrom skated by the bench after scoring the Capitals' second empty-net goal, Price reached out to take a swipe at the Swedish star with his stick - as gutless a piece of back-stabbing as you will ever see.
Price did pick up two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties for his rancid behaviour, but that was it. No NHL suspension. No stern talking-to from his coach. Just some muttering about "passion."
Horse hockey. Patrick Roy was passionate. Rocket Richard was passionate. Price is just a big, pouting child who has not learned how to behave.
Price played just well enough to lose Wednesday, as he has so many times this season. He didn't struggle the way Jaroslav Halak did in Games 2 and 3, he didn't star as Halak did in Game 1 or in a gritty effort last night that made it possible for the Canadiens to extend this series to six games.
But Price's play is not the issue here. His behaviour is - big-time, in my view.
I am not fed up with Price. I am fed up with a Canadiens organization that has taken a talented, if unformed, young man and turned him into a monster of misbehaviour. All they are doing is helping to complete the mission that Bob Gainey began so well: convincing Price that nothing he does - no matter how childish, how immature or how bad for his team - is anything other than proof of a youthful passion for the game.
After the way he fought and scratched for every point this season, are you going to tell me that Jaroslav Halak is not passionate about this game? Yet Halak in Game 2 and Game 3 of this series endured far worse than Price went through on Wednesday and kept his cool. No pouting, no hanging his head, no flinging pucks at his opponents or taking swipes at them from the safety of the bench as they skated by.
There may be only two years in age between Price and Halak, but the difference in maturity is closer to two decades.
The person being most hurt by all this is Price himself. By endlessly deferring his maturity, the Canadiens are allowing him to languish in a quasi-permanent adolescence. Like the parents of a spoiled child, they are doing him no favours.
If I were Pierre Gauthier or Jacques Martin or the captain this team needs and does not have despite having the obvious candidate in Brian Gionta, I would take Price aside for a man-to-boy chat and deliver the following message:
You are an incredibly privileged young man. Rich, handsome, adored and in possession of one of the most famed positions in all of sports: goaltender for the Canadiens.
So take your whuppings like a man. Quit whining and throwing temper tantrums. The boos from the fans and the barbs from the media come with the territory and they are topped many times over by the cheers, the adulation, the admiring columns that will be written when you play as you can play.
If the fire is really there, show it by making the big stop in the playoffs and winking at the player you just robbed. Put the Baby Huey act to rest for good. Become the Cool Hand Luke you promised to be when you first arrived. Show your passion through your play, not your petulance.
Above all, grow up and be a man. When and if you do, you'll get the respect you have earned. Better still, you'll know deep inside that you deserve it.
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