How P.K. Subban and Carey Price stole a road game in Boston

“You need your best players to be your best players” sounds like another dumb hockey cliche, but I don’t hate it as much as, say, “Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.” The latter is just something you tell bad players to give them hope.

The former, however, has real merit.

Your “best players” play the bulk of your team’s minutes and at the biggest moments. When they’re not playing well your team doesn’t just suffer from a lack of output, it cannibalizes the minutes of the players who are playing well.

Your best players are studied and keyed on in playoffs, so for them to be as effective as you need them to be, as effective as you’ve relied on them to be throughout the year, they need to be at the top of their game. This is especially important for underdogs trying to take down a better team.

To put it bluntly: the Montreal Canadiens won Game 1 vs. the Boston Bruins in TD Garden because their two best players, P.K. Subban and Carey Price, were their best players. They were phenomenal.

There was a time during Norris Trophy voting after P.K. Subban’s big offensive year (the year he won) where the major knock on his candidacy was ice time. To me, TOI is one of the greatest indicators of a player’s value. It tells us how much his coach and team trust him, how much they lean on him, how much they need him (particularly on good teams).

Last night Subban played more than any player on either team with 33:49, and he gobbled those minutes up. He was a bully. He was engaged. The stat department documented “just” five hits, but it was his performance in battles that was particularly impressive, as the Bruins saw Subban throw a number of their young forwards to the ice, take the puck, and go on his merry way.

The game-winner in the second overtime was his second goal and third shot of the game (he hadn’t scored in 23 games prior), and it just about tore the net off the posts.

Subban’s exceptional play prompted the type of praise we haven’t heard very often from his coach Michel Therrien. “Carey Price is a leader for us, and P.K. Subban is one now too.” Subban’s always felt like a big game, big moments guy to me, and his performance in hostile territory yesterday just strengthened that belief.

In Subban’s post-game interview he mentioned “If it weren’t for Carey Price, we’re probably not in that game,” and that assessment is bang on.

The Habs other “best player” stopped 48 of 51 shots for a .941 save percentage, 15 of which were in OT. These weren’t garden variety wristers Price was stopping either.

[Courtesy NHL.com]

Where his counterpart Tuukka Rask - now 0-9 lifetime against the Canadiens in Boston’s TD Garden - was merely adequate, Price was superb, making great saves on Brad Marchand, Jarome Iginla, and David Krejci numerous times when it looked like he was all but beat.

So, sure - it’s really great to get quality performances from Rene Bourque. It’s nice when Dale Weise contributes in some unforeseen way, and it’s nice when Francis Bouillon gets on the score sheet. But if you’re serious about winning a series and not just stealing a game you’re going to need your big guns going, and last night, Price and Subban took care of business.

Had the Canadiens come that close last night and lost, I think the series would've been a short one. They went up 2-0 then lost their lead, they’re not the superior team, and they were awfully close to wasting a great opportunity.

But Price stepped up in the biggest moments, Subban bombed a couple home, and the Habs rode them both to a 1-0 series lead. Their best players were their best players. That’s following the Underdog Upset Manual perfectly; for an awfully good Bruins team, that has to be a major concern.