Carey Price is the most valuable player of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs entering the Stanley Cup Final, according to a panel of 13 NHL.com staff members.
The Montreal Canadiens goalie received 11 of 13 first-place votes and 37 total points (3-2-1 ballots).
Price is a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens and is considered to be one of the best goaltenders in the world by many colleagues, fans, The Hockey News, and EA Sports.
At the conclusion of the Cup Final, a panel of voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association selects the playoff MVP, who receives the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Price was the only Canadiens player to receive votes from the NHL.com panel. The other three receiving votes were from the Lightning: center Brayden Point (17 points), goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (16) and forward Nikita Kucherov (eight).
Price is 12-5 in the playoffs, including 11-2 in the past 13 games. He has a .934 save percentage, second to Vasilevskiy (.936). His 2.02 goals-against average is third, behind Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs (1.81) and Vasilevskiy (1.99), and he has allowed two goals or fewer in eight of his past nine games before June 27.
But in a huge win for Canadiens fans and Tampa haters, asTampa Bay looked for its second straight Cup and the Canadiens looked for a fifth game, the Canadiens won Game 4, 3-2 in overtime after burning a critical penalty.
Their next match up will have a puck drop this Wednesday in Tampa. The defending Stanley Cup champs will head home looking to close things out at Amalie Arena in front of their hometown crowd — something their mayor had actually hoped for.
Price is hoped to perform at the top of his game as the exciting series continues. He has carried immense weight with many expecting him to to be the Price who stonewalled Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in the first round, and the Price who out-duelled Vegas’s tandem of Marc-André Fleury and Robin Lehner in the semifinals.
A list of Indigenous Players that won the Stanley Cup since 1927: 1928 – Clarence Abel (Chippewa), 1934 – Clarence Abel (Chippewa), 1946 – Joe Benoit (Métis), 1961 – Pierre Pilote (Innu), 1962 – George Armstrong (Iroquois), 1963 – George Armstrong (Iroquois), 1964 – George Armstrong (Iroquois), 1967 – George Armstrong (Iroquois), 1975 – Reggie Leach (Ojibwe), 1980 – Bryan Trottier (Cree), 1981 – Bryan Trottier (Cree), 1982 – Bryan Trottier (Cree), 1983 – Bryan Trottier (Cree), 1984 – Grant Fuhr (Métis), 1985 – Grant Fuhr (Métis), 1987 – Grant Fuhr (Métis), 1988 – Grant Fuhr (Métis), 1989 – Theo Fluery (Métis), 1990 – Grant Fuhr (Métis), 1991 – Bryan Trottier (Cree), 1992 – Bryan Trottier (Cree) & Jamie Leach (Ojibwe), 1996 – Chris Simon (Ojibwe), 1998 – Norm Maracle (Mohawk), 2012 – Jordan Nolan (Ojibwe) & Dwight King (Métis), 2014 – Jordan Nolan (Ojibwe) & Dwight King (Métis), 2018 – TJ Oshie (Ojibwe), 2019 – Craig Berube (Cree) & Jordan Nolan (Ojibwe).
