Carey Price bounces back to get milestone win

WASHINGTON -- The glare that launched the Twitterverse into hours of wild speculation about Carey Price's mindset Friday actually had a pretty simple meaning behind it.
"I was just ticked]," Price said after rebounding to make 20 saves in the
[Montreal Canadiens' 2-1 victory
against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on Saturday. "I don't think anybody can blame me in that situation."

The situation was this: Price allowed four goals on 18 shots before being pulled 6:44 into the second period with the Canadiens trailing the San Jose Sharks 4-0 at Bell Centre on Friday. When Price headed off the ice, he glared down the bench at his teammates and coach Michel Therrien and then was absent from the bench during the third period of what ended as a 4-2 loss.
After declining to speak to the media on Friday, a much happier Price explained after earning his 250th career win on Saturday that his anger the previous night was directed at "myself, everybody."
The Canadiens were sloppy in front of Price on Friday, so the loss wasn't nearly all his fault. It was the first time he was pulled for non-injury reasons since a 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 13, 2014.
Therrien had originally planned to start backup Al Montoya against the Capitals but switched to Price after pulling him Friday. If Price was initially upset with Therrien for giving him the hook or for not doing it earlier, he said his relationship with his coach is "all good" now.
"I think we're all professionals and we're able to realize that hockey's emotional and sometimes you're not going to see eye-to-eye on things" Price said. "But at the end of the day, you show up to work the next day and get the job done."
The Canadiens helped Price do just that by limiting the Capitals to 21 shots on goal in snapping their six-game winning streak. The Canadiens blocked 21 shots; defenseman Shea Weber led the way with five blocks. One shot from Washington defenseman Dmitry Orlov went off Weber's right leg and caused him to miss the final 4:25 of the second period.

The Capitals went without a shot on goal for a stretch of 15:22 that bridged the final 2:27 of the second period and the first 12:55 of the third.
"We played extremely hard on the defensive side of the puck," Price said. "It's a very skilled offensive team and I thought we did a really good job of containing their offense."
Price, whose 17th win moved him within one of the Columbus Blue Jackets' Sergei Bobrovsky for the League lead, did his best work in the second period. He made a right shoulder save on T.J. Oshie from the high slot at 4:33 and a left pad save on Lars Eller's shorthanded opportunity at 9:12.

Price had no chance on the one shot that eluded him, Nicklas Backstrom's 5-on-3 power-play goal from the right side with 5:44 remaining in the second.
"You know exactly what you're going to get from him every night," Weber said of Price. "We weren't good enough for him [Friday] and we did a lot better job in protecting him and clearing everything out of the way for him [Saturday]."
Therrien said he "had no doubt" that Price would rebound after being pulled.
"He played really well, and the players responded really well in front of him, too," Therrien said.
Price said the key was to "kind of get a good night sleep somewhat and just get refocused."
"You're going to go through tough times," he said, "but you just believe in yourself and believe in what you're doing and just keep pounding and, hopefully, it works out for you."