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Cooper: Montreal G Price 'pedestrian' vs. Lightning

 
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes the save against Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula (51) during the third period of Game 5 of a second-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes the save against Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula (51) during the third period of Game 5 of a second-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Published May 11, 2015

TAMPA — Canadiens G Carey Price is capable of stealing a game, maybe even a series.

There's a reason Price is an MVP finalist and, as Lightning coach Jon Cooper says, "arguably the best goalie in the world."

Price made his biggest impact of this Eastern Conference semifinal series in Saturday's Game 5, including a spectacular glove save on C Valtteri Filppula in the third period.

Price is 6-3 with a 1.98 goals-against average and two shutouts in nine games when Montreal has faced elimination.

"He's kind of an X factor for them," Cooper said.

But Cooper said the Lightning has confidence against Price, considering its success against him in this regular season; Price was 0-4-1 with a 3.47 goals-against average.

"We look back and his numbers against the Tampa Bay Lightning are very pedestrian compared to the rest of the teams," Cooper said. "He, to us, is not a mental block."

SLICK SAVE: D Anton Stralman might have made one of the best saves in Saturday's game at Montreal, coming to G Ben Bishop's rescue late in the second period.

With Montreal up 1-0 and on a power play, Canadiens D Jeff Petry ripped a shot off the crossbar. The puck bounced off the back of Bishop and slowly rolled toward the goal line. Stralman swooped in to scoop out the puck before C Alex Galchenyuk could put it in.

"Not much I could do except try to get there as fast as I could," Stralman said. "I saw the puck trickling there, just being at the right spot at the right time."

NO POWER: The Lightning's power play has been one of its strengths in this series, racking up six goals. But it didn't have a man advantage Saturday while the Canadiens had three, which C Steven Stamkos said was "tough to swallow."

The Lightning had a couple of opportunities for power plays, but C Tyler Johnson was called for embellishment on a Petry hooking penalty in the first period, and D Victor Hedman got a roughing penalty defending Bishop on Montreal LW P.A. Parenteau's goalie interference call in the second.

"I don't want to say you expect that when you come into (Bell Centre), but a lot of teams would say that," Stamkos said. "We're trying to protect (our) goalie. They got a couple good whacks at him; know it looks like it was a coincidence, but it's not. They're doing it on purpose. We're trying to protect our goalie. It's the playoffs.

"Some refs tell you, 'It's the playoffs, we're letting everything go.' And you come here and guys get a couple whacks in front of the net and it's a penalty. That's tough, but we killed it off, didn't complain, didn't whine about it. We'll have to pick up from here and move on."

Bishop had a different view: "Usually it just means we're not working hard enough when we're not getting power plays like that."

BOUNCE BACK: Veteran D Matt Carle had a rough night in Saturday's 2-1 loss, finishing minus-2. His neutral-zone turnover led to the Canadiens' first goal, and he screened Bishop on Parenteau's winner in the third. Carle owned up to his mistakes postgame, but his struggles were reflected in his playing time. He logged a season-low 12:32, eight minutes off his regular-season average, 20:29.

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ICE CHIPS: The Lightning was scheduled to practice at 11 a.m. today at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon. … The NHL on Sunday hadn't announced a start time for Game 6 on Tuesday at Amalie Arena. … A few hundred tickets remained Sunday for Game 6. Go to tampabaylightning.com.