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About John Chidley-Hill
John Chidley-Hill grew up in Toronto, the son of a third-generation Maple Leafs fan and a die-hard Montreal Canadiens follower. He's still recovering and faces his demons on a regular basis as HockeyPrimetime.com's Northeast Division beat writer.
When not blogging about hockey, other sports, comics and TV he is the junior hockey beat reporter for the Canadian Press. You can read his blog at http://johnchidleyhill.com.
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| In Montreal, the Price is Right |
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| Northeast | |
| Written by John Chidley-Hill | |
| Sunday, November 28, 2010 09:33 | |
Pierre Gauthier's off-season vote of confidence in Carey Price has been belatedly rewarded, in a big way. The Habs are hot and Price has suddenly worked his way into the Vezina Trophy conversation.
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More than a quarter of the way through the NHL season, it might be time to admit that Pierre Gauthier knows what he’s doing.
| AROUND THE NORTHEAST |
The Price Era in Montreal got off to a rough start as well, with the young goaltender being booed off the ice during the Canadiens’ first pre-season game. When he stopped long dump-ins, the hometown crowd sarcastically cheered his “saves.”
Not an auspicious start.
But here we are over 20 games into the season and the Canadiens are firmly in control of the Northeast Division. They owe that success to Price’s renaissance.
The 23-year-old native of Williams Lake, British Columbia leads the league with 13 wins and four shutouts. His 2.00 goals-against average is very respectable, as is his .933 save percentage. Although the season is only a quarter old, Price is on pace for a career year.
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Extrapolate those numbers over the entire season and Price could win 46 games with 14 shutouts. By comparison, Buffalo’s Ryan Miller won 41 games, had five shutouts, a .929 save percentage and 2.22 GAA when he won the Vezina Trophy last season. When Boston’s Tim Thomas won the Vezina two years ago, he finished the season with 36 wins, five shutouts, a .933 saves percentage and a 2.10 GAA.It’s early, but Carey Price may need some space on his mantle.
Halak has been solid for the Blues, winning 10 games and earning a 2.38 GAA with a .911 save percentage and three shutouts, but Price has been better.
Gauthier was faced with a hard choice this off-season, but so far it appears to be the right one.
Notes
A tongue-in-cheek article in the Ottawa Citizen created a small furor when it suggested the city take steps to ban Maple Leafs fans from Saturday night’s game. … Sabres forward Rob Niedermayer will miss at least two weeks of play after having minor knee surgery to repair an injury that’s nagged him since September. … Buffalo has been hot of late, winning six of its last 10 games although Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes shut them out on Friday night.
Photos by Getty Images
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