Montreal Canadiens Play It Again Sports
Hickey on hockey: Carey Price is close, but not quite ready for activeness
All-time bet for Canadiens goaltender'due south render is next week, when the Canadiens take back-to-back dwelling games Friday and Saturday.
TORONTO — Martin St. Louis said Carey Cost will let the Canadiens know when he'due south fix to make his flavour debut, just he said he didn't retrieve the goaltender would start against the Maple Leafs Saturday (seven p.m., SNE, SNO, SNP, CBC, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
That makes sense because Cost has been working difficult in practice, but his work has been confined to lateral movement in the pucker while taking shots from players who are non Auston Matthews.
In fact, they're not fifty-fifty Cole Caufield.
During an optional do at the Leafs' preparation facility Friday, Toll was at one end of the ice taking shots from Ryan Poehling, Jeff Petry and rookie Hashemite kingdom of jordan Harris.
At that place was a sign Cost's competitive nature is gearing up. After he was beaten on two sequent shots, he angrily fired a puck into the corner. Of course, vintage Cost would have smashed his stick over the crossbar.
But his preparation leaves something to be desired. In that location was no one in front of the net screening him. There was no one bumping into him. And no one crashing the internet.
It would seem logical that Toll won't go into battle without offset experiencing these things in do. Because Dominicus is a day off, it'southward unlikely he will confront the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Middle on Monday.
The best bet? Price will see action adjacent weekend, when the Canadiens accept back-to-back home games Friday against the Islanders and Saturday against the Washington Capitals.
Improvement all around: At that place has been a lot of chatter about the positive effect St. Louis has had on such youngsters as Nick Suzuki and Caufield.
But the bus'southward influence has been felt throughout the lineup. It'due south difficult to find a player who has not benefitted from the change behind the bench.
There are some tangible results from the change. Under Dominique Ducharme, the Canadiens had an 8-xxx-7 tape, collecting points at a 26-per-cent prune.
Going into Saturday's game against the Maple Leafs, St. Louis has a 12-ten-4 record — a .528 winning percentage.
And you don't need avant-garde analytics to know that the team is playing with more energy and, even on virtually of the nights when they lose, they provide solid entertainment.
Ane of the veterans benefitting from the change is defenceman David Savard. Former GM Marc Bergevin signed him during the off-season flavour to assist kickoff the loss of Shea Weber but, for a while, he appeared to exist the 2nd coming of Karl Alzner, a one time reliable role player who was unable to cope with an unfamiliar system.
In 42 games under Ducharme's picket, Savard had one goal, eight assists and was a minus-17. In the 9 games since he returned from an ankle injury, he has two goals, two assists and is plus-1.
"I was aways impressed with his game in Columbus, and especially last year in Tampa," said Luke Richardson, the banana coach responsible for the defence. "He may not be the quickest on his feet, the fastest skater, just he's and so deceptive. He tin give you a lilliputian shoulder feint, he has that little gyre-and-elevate and he fools people not once merely all the time. … A good nickname for him is Savvy. He's a character on the bench and in the dressing room. He has some potency with the referees, which is very helpful when we can't communicate from the bench. It's an example for the younger players because he acts with respect and gets respect in render."
With an influx of immature defencemen, including Harris and Justin Barron, Richardson said he'south grateful to have Savard and Joel Edmundson to serve every bit mentors.
"They play a huge part," Richardson said. "They calm things down, on the ice and in the locker room. They take fun with the young players and they make them feel like colleagues, non similar rookies. It helps guys discover their bearings. By extension, it helps the whole team.
"When young guys come back to the bench during a game, the veterans can spend fourth dimension with them; not to bus them, but to give them little tips, talk to them," added Richardson. "In curt, to be good teammates. It'south huge for us."
phickey@postmedia.com
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Source: https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/hickey-on-hockey-carey-price-is-close-but-not-quite-ready-for-action
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