Price: Canadiens seem to have lost identity
The Montreal Canadiens have some soul searching to do during their bye week.
So says goaltender Carey Price, who lamented the team's recent struggles following a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins.
"We seem to have lost our identity," Price said, according to Amanda Stein of TSN 690.
Since starting the season with a record of 13-1-1, the Canadiens have gone 18-18-7, and things have been quite dire over the past month or so.
Habs are 6-10-2 since Jan 7 and have a minus-15 goal differential in those 18 games, allowing 3.1 goals per game and scoring 2.3 per game.
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) February 13, 2017
The shutout loss to the Bruins - Tuukka Rask's first regular-season home win over Montreal - marked the third time the Canadiens have been held off the scoresheet in the past five games.
Price, meanwhile, hasn't been his usual self, allowing four goals against in each of his past three starts, two of which came against lowly Arizona and Colorado.
The Canadiens remain atop the Atlantic Division, but their cushion has shrunk to six points, with both Boston and Ottawa looking to overtake them, and Toronto lurking further down the standings with games in hand.
Montreal is off until Feb. 18, giving the team ample time in which to try and figure out what's gone wrong.