Down 4-0 after 40 minutes, the 29-year-old netminder made a point of staying in goal in what would turn out to be a one-sided 7-1 decision.
"I'd rather just stick it out. Nobody else has the opportunity to get pulled from the game, so I'd rather just be out there with [my teammates]," underlined Price, who faced 24 shots on the evening. "Regardless of what the score is in any situation, I just try to focus on my next shot. Whether it's 7-0, or 1-0, or whatever the score is, it doesn't matter to me. It's a very disappointing result, but it's over now, so we move on."
The five-time All-Star may have earned the respect of his peers long ago, but that didn't stop Michel Therrien from touching on his decision, postgame.
"We discussed it, but during the second intermission, he stressed that he wanted to stay in the game," shared the Habs bench boss. "I respect his decision, and I appreciate the fact that he wanted to stay in a tough situation to be alongside his teammates."
Added the head coach, on whether he's troubled by the anomalous result:
"[Carey's play] is the least of my worries."
The rest of the Habs meanwhile, would love to return the favor this weekend.
"We're a team. We're in this together at all costs. It's a group effort every night, win or lose, so we never want to leave anyone out to dry like that," added captain Max Pacioretty. "We want to have a much better performance on Saturday [at home against the Rangers]."
TWO TOO MANY
The turning point in Thursday's game came early in the second, when Eric Staal and Jordan Schroeder scored back-to-back goals just 39 seconds apart.
"I think that was probably the backbreaker. It's tough to climb out of a three-goal deficit against a team like that," acknowledged Price. "They played very well, so we've got to tip our hat to them."
At that point the Wild had lit the lamp three times on just nine shots.
"We didn't generate much offensively, and they capitalized on just about every opportunity they had. That pretty much sums it up."
