Bill Clement

The Canadiens had four starters (goalie Carey Price, forward Alexei Kovalev and defensemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek) in the All-Star game in Montreal on Sunday. If anyone had a problem with that they should get over it because it was the right thing for the most storied franchise in the NHL, which is playing its 100th season and celebrating its centennial in 2009.

The Canadiens reached the All-Star break in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Their goal is to get home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The three top priorities for them to reach that goal are a healthy lineup (which they didn’t have in the first half of the season) and stellar play from Price and Kovalev. Without those two at their best, forget a postseason run by Montreal, which finished last season as the surprise top seed in the East, but lost in the second round to the Flyers.

Price missed some time because of a groin and lower body injury so he has to stay healthy. He got the starting job at last year’s trade deadline when the Canadiens shipped Cristobal Huet to the Capitals. Price gave a good account of himself by posting a 24-12-3 regular-season record. The postseason was a different story.

Price really won’t start to be scrutinized until the playoffs, where he was not good last year. He went 5-6 with a goals against average of 2.78 and a save percentage of .901. His glove and his nerves let him down.

There’s a combination of things that make Price so good. He has great poise, solid positioning as he seems to be always square to the shooter, never too far out, never too deep. He’s a classic butterfly goalie who kneels extremely tall in the net. So even when he is on his knees, he protects a lot of net. His leg thrust and leg drive are fantastic and that allows him to move so quickly from one side of the net to the other.

How Price performs in the postseason will be the biggest factor in how Montreal fares. The second biggest factor will be the play of Kovalev. The All-Star game MVP has to show more than he has for most of the regular season. He’s in the last year of his contract so you would think that would serve as motivation. But in the first half of the season there were a lot of games were he seemed disinterested. That’s unusual for someone who is playing for a new deal, but Kovalev has a a pattern of strong years followed by lackluster ones.

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Kovalev was the top performer for the NHL's best power play last season, with 47 points and 17 goals. This season, the Canadiens' power play has suffered in part due to the loss of defenseman Mark Streit, who signed with the Islanders and whose performance on the blueline for Montreal was underrated. His loss could have been offset to a significant degree by a more inspired Kovalev, who has only four power-play goals and eight power-play assists.

It’s not just Kovalev’s numbers that hint at something being up with him. There are games where his body language tells you he doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself. Kovalev is one of the most happy-go-lucky athletes in professional sports. I wonder by his efforts on the ice if he’s figuring this is his last year in the NHL and he’ll go back and play in Russia next season.

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