Habs hang rookie Price out to dry

[Habsfan84]

Carey Price's Bell Centre debut lived up to expectations.
But the rookie didn't get a lot of help from his teammates as the Canadiens opened a four-game homestand with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Canadiens could agree on two things: Price was the only reason they were in the game and they lucky to come away with a point.

"If I was watching that game on television, I would have turned it off," said Christopher Higgins, whose power-play goal at 18:02 of the third period sent the game into overtime. "We weren't skating, we weren't physical, we weren't doing anything right. Two shots in the first period, that was embarrassing."
But not as embarrassing as the two goals the Thrashers scored in the second period after Price had held them at bay for more than 36 minutes.
Laval native Éric Pérrin opened the scoring at 16:16 of the second period when planted himself outside the crease and swatted home a loose puck. The irony here is that the 5-foot-9 Perrin was the smallest player on the ice and he scored while surrounded by four red-shirted Canadiens, including Andrei Markov who failed in an attempt to clear the puck.
"The guys were battling for it, they just got their stick on it before we did," Price said. And the Thrashers took the lead when Slava Kozlov intercepted a blind, behind-the-puck pass from Josh Gorges in the Canadiens' zone and skated in alone on Price.
"If I could take it back, I would, but that's hockey" Gorges said. "But it was a simple play, my defence partner (Mike Komisarek) called for the puck, and it was a 15-foot D-to-D pass. But I whiffed on it. It jumped over my stick and I didn't get what I wanted on it."
Price did everything he could to keep the score close, but he was unable to stone the Thrashers the same way he stopped the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout Saturday.
Saku Koivu was the only Hab to solve Johan Hedberg in the shootout, while rookie Bryan Little and Ilya Kovalchuk beat Price.
"I didn't change anything," said Price, who stopped eight Penguins on Saturday. "Tonight, they hit their targets and made some great moves."
Price was grateful the Thrashers came out of the gate quickly, because he was able to get into the game. Unfortunately, his teammates didn't do much at the other end of the ice. Atlanta outshot the Canadiens 13-2 in the first and held a 17-4 advantage
after Alex Kovalev scored a power-play to give Montreal a 1-0 lead at 8:10 of the second period.
The Canadiens' power play, which ranks No. 1 in the NHL, produced two goals on seven opportunities, but it could have been even better. The Canadiens had two 5-on-3 advantages, but failed to score.
"The power play was struggling tonight," Higgins said. "We weren't getting our shots through and we were overpassing the puck, but that's going to happen. I'm not worried about the power play; I'm worried about the rest of our game."
Price stopped 31 of 33 shots in what might have been his best performance. The final shots on goal had each team with 33, but that was not a fair reflection.