Friday in Columbus, Carey Price made his long-awaited return to the net, and it turned into an “adventure” against the Americans. He allowed three goals on 24 shots, looking a lot like a goalie that hadn’t played in a while.
Tonight in Pittsburgh, Price will start again for Team Canada. The opponent is Team Russia, with all its offensive stars, so it won’t get any easier for the Montreal Canadiens’ MVP.
“He gets an opportunity to play again,” head coach Mike Babcock said yesterday, per the Toronto Sun. “He hasn’t played in a long time, didn’t have the kind of game he’d like his first time out. He’s going back in the net. [Corey Crawford] is backing up. Then we’ll set up our rotation for the tournament.”
Translation: another shaky performance by Price and it might be Crawford or Braden Holtby between the pipes when Team Canada plays for real on Saturday.
Crawford was brilliant in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Team USA in Ottawa. He stopped 10 of 10 shots after Holtby had started and allowed two goals on 13 shots.
Looks like Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Kucherov will be a line tonight from a.m skate lineup #TeamRussia #WCH2016
— Shawn Roarke (@sroarke_nhl) September 14, 2016