Carey Price to start the game tonight for the first time in 330 days

[Kojo]

First time playing two games in a row since 330 days and he picked up right where he left off.

 

[TheAntiPrice]

First time playing two games in a row since 330 days and he picked up right where he left off.

I wouldn't say that, he has looked sluggish so far, still getting the job done (2-0) but not looking his sharp confident self just yet.

He's 22-1-1 on Saturday nights over the last 2 years, ridiculous.

 

[Playmaker09]

The difference is the Pens don't fall to 8th worst in the league when Crosby is out, unlike the Habs when Price is out.



And the Leafs beat the Blackhawks in the year the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. What exactly does that prove?

Again, 1 game results really prove nothing. What actually happened is that the Habs were the 8th worst team in hockey last year without Price and they didn't become that much better over the offseason.

Which is why he's the best player in the world. The guy is the only player in the league that can take a terrible, bottom of the league team to top 2 in the conference all by himself.

I keep seeing these comparisons made and they make no sense at all.

Price went down last year and we replaced him with essentially the worst goaltending in the league. That's a massive difference (basically 0.033 save percentage = 1 goal against extra per game).

When Crosby goes down his minutes get replaced by Malkin, who is an excellent #1C. Bonino gets bumped up to #2, which he's done in the past. Cullen gets bumped up to #3, which he's done throughout all his career. And the 13th forward starts on the 4th line.

The hit is a million times easier to absorb because it's spread out evenly over all 4 lines. So long as each one can accept a little more minutes and responsibility, you're fine.

The equivalent of what happened to the Habs last year would be if Pittsburgh was forced to replace Crosby directly with their 13th forward. He would have to play all his 21 minutes, get spoonfed the PP time that Crosby usually gets and play against the top lines that Crosby regularly plays against.

I'd like to see Pittsburgh stay out of the lottery then.