Price of Canadiens MVP halfway through Stanley Cup Playoffs

Carey Price is the most valuable player at the midpoint of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Montreal Canadiens goalie received 37 of a possible 45 points from a panel of 15 NHL.com staff members.
Price was named first on 11 ballots and appeared on 13. No other player appeared on more than nine ballots.
At the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final, a panel of voters from the Professional Hockey Writers' Association selects the playoff MVP, who receives the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Price has been the focal point of the Canadiens' surprising run to the Stanley Cup Semifinals, where the No. 4 seed from the Scotia North Division will play the Vegas Golden Knights, the No. 2 seed from the Honda West Division.

Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is at Vegas on Monday (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Price, who has won seven straight starts, is 8-3 with a 1.97 goals-against average and .935 save percentage, which is best among the 24 goalies who have played this postseason.
"[Price] is solid; he's really in the zone and wants to win," Montreal forward Phillip Danault said. "He gives us a chance to win every game. He gives us wings."
Price was the only Canadiens player to receive a vote.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov was second with 16 points and two-first-place votes. Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was third with 15 points. Kucherov was one of four Lightning to earn a vote: goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (6), forward Brayden Point (3) and defenseman Victor Hedman (1).
The Lightning, the No. 3 seed from the Discover Central Division, play the New York Islanders, the No. 4 seed from the MassMutual East. Game 1 is at Tampa Bay on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Kucherov, who missed the entire regular season recovering from hip surgery, has scored 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 11 playoff games. He scored 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in 25 games when the Lightning won the Stanley Cup last season.
This postseason, he has scored at least one point in 10 of the 11 games and has five multipoint games. Thirteen points have come on the power play.
"He's a special talent and he can play the game different ways, but he just makes plays at high rates of speed," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Can you make plays under duress and really make a power play go? Then, the big X-factor for me is, [can you] get big goals at big moments? He seems to check all those boxes."

Fleury is 8-4 with a 1.91 GAA and .923 save percentage. His GAA is second among 2021 playoff goalies behind Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs (1.81). In the second round against the Colorado Avalanche, Fleury won the final four games, allowing a total of eight goals.
"He had an incredible year," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We wouldn't have had the record we had; we wouldn't be here without the year he had. You have to take your hat off to him. He faced some adversity there last year (losing playing time after Robin Lehner was acquired in a trade). Instead of laying down, he showed up in camp and fought and battled. Turned it into what I think should be a Vezina Trophy.
"In typical Marc-Andre fashion, I congratulated him today [on being nominated] and he immediately talked about it being a team award and how well the team played in front of him, but you can't overlook his contributions to what we're doing and the season he had."
Results (3-2-1 voting):Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens, 37 points (11 first-place votes); Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, 16 (2); Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights, 15; Mark Stone, Golden Knights, 7 (1); Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning, 6 (1); Brayden Point, Lightning, 3; Alex Pietrangelo, Golden Knights, 3; Victor Hedman, Lightning, 1; Brock Nelson, New York Islanders, 1; Mathew Barzal, Islanders, 1.