For three home games in this opening round, Montreal has handed the flame to a different legend before puck drop. Yvan Cournoyer in Game 3. Serge Savard in Game 4. Chris Nilan on Friday.
Two names kept dominating fan chatter ahead of those nights. Patrick Roy. And Carey Price.
So when Angela posted, fans paid attention.
She explained that watching a recent Bell Centre playoff game with her husband, she once joked he should hold the torch when he's old. Not now. Not at 38.
But the volume of fan messages flipped something in her. She saw it clearly. Habs supporters already treat Price like a franchise legend, full stop, and they want him out there.
Then came the line that ends the speculation, at least for now. Asked directly whether the Canadiens had reached out to Price about carrying the flame, Angela said no, not as far as she knows.
That answer matters. Because Price is still technically under contract with the San Jose Sharks, who are paying him a $10.5 million cap hit, the second-highest goalie number in the league.
You can guess where this gets awkward. Hosting a Sharks-paid goaltender as the emotional centerpiece of a Bell Centre playoff ceremony? Kent Hughes and the league office probably want a quiet word about that one first.
Is it really a roadblock, or is the front office just waiting for a bigger moment? Hard to say until someone in Brossard says it out loud.
What's certain is the timing. Martin St-Louis has his group walking into a hostile building on a 48-24-10 regular season foundation, and the series is knotted 3-3 after Thursday's 0-1 overtime loss at home.
If the Habs win in Tampa on Sunday, every torchbearer call for Round 2 becomes a national story. Price's name doesn't go away. It only gets louder.
And if Round 2 arrives, the question shifts from whether the Canadiens want him to whether the Sharks would even allow it.
That's the part nobody in Montreal seems ready to ask out loud yet.
|
YESTERDAY
MAY 2, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Logan Stankoven | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mike Reilly | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Denver Barkey | - | - | - | |
| Alex Bump | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Noah Cates | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Sean Couturier | - | - | - | |
| Jamie Drysdale | - | - | - | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | - | - | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | - | - | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | - | - | |
| Luke Glendening | - | - | - | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||