In recent years Carey Price has been the one consistent positive for the Montreal Canadiens.
No matter what was going wrong in front of him -- a lack of offense, too many shots against, etc. -- he has always found a way to rise up, put the team on his back, and steal a bunch of games.
For the past two months, however, that has not necessarily been the case for the Canadiens.
Price enters Sunday’s game in Boston -- where he will be getting the start -- with only an .898 save percentage since Dec. 1, which is currently the fourth-worst mark in the NHL during that stretch for goalies that have appeared in at least 20 games.
It is an unprecedented slump for a goaltender that, before December, had been nearly unbeatable whenever he was in the lineup for more than two years. Price can be the NHL’s greatest game-changer when he is on his game, and if the Canadiens are going to snap out of this recent funk that has seen them lose five out of their past six, they could really use a big game for Price on Sunday against a Boston team that is starting to score more goals in recent weeks.
After Anton Khudobin helped the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon, Tuukka Rask is back in the Boston net.
More: NHL on NBCSN: Bruins go for third win in a row against slumping Canadiens
Elsewhere on Sunday...
-- Martin Jones beat Cory Schneider in the San Jose-New Jersey game, while Devan Dubnyk went up against Jared Coreau in the Red Wings-Wild matchup.
-- Thomas Greiss gets the night off for the Islanders as Jean-Francois Berube gets the start against the Colorado Avalanche. Calvin Pickard is in the Avalanche net.
-- The Predators and Stars have yet to announce their starting goalies.
-- It will be Jacob Markstrom going for the Vancouver Canucks when they visit the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo will counter with Robin Lehner.
