Tanguay, Price come through with honors

Oct 16, 2008 - 5:41 AM By Bill Bernardi PA SportsTicker Staff Writer

Alex Tanguay and Carey Price did their best to impress the members of the Montreal Canadiens, both past and present.

On a night when the "Original Six" franchise unveiled its "Ring of Honor" at the Bell Centre, Tanguay scored in the second round of the shootout and Price stopped all three attempts he faced in the bonus format as Montreal secured a 4-3 triumph over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

In conjunction with its 100-year anniversary, the storied franchise with a record 24 Stanley Cups to its credit honored 44 former players, as well as 10 members of a builders category, across the arena's upper deck. All 54 are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Emile "Butch" Bouchard, who is 88 years young, steadily rose from his wheelchair to drop the ceremonial first puck, while legends Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Henri Richard and others soaked in the cheers of the Montreal faithful.

"It's pretty neat and it just shows the history behind the hockey club here," Price said. "It's a pretty proud moment when you see guys like that and they're still showing their colors."

Proudly displaying his new colors was Tanguay, who was acquired from Calgary for Montreal's first-round pick - 25th overall - in this past June's draft, as well as a second-rounder in 2009.

Although he struggled last season, notching 18 goals, 40 assists and 48 penalty minutes in 78 games for the Flames, the 28-year-old Tanguay made his mark with the Canadiens by wristing a shot past goaltender Tim Thomas and inside the right goalpost for the lone goal in the shootout.

"It was good timing," Tanguay said of his tally. "I'm still nervous, still trying to find my way on the team, trying to get in the groove. But that will come with time. I'm usually a guy who has slow starts."

Price made it stand by thwarting former Canadien Michael Ryder on the Bruins' final attempt.

"(Ryder's) a good friend of ours, but on the ice, there's no friends out there," said Price, who also stopped Phil Kessel and Patrice Bergeron in the shootout. "You know, he's a pretty good shooter, he had quite a few shots tonight."

While Ryder gave it his best shot, so did Georges Laraque - in a manner of speaking.

The Montreal native and unquestioned tough guy played his first game for the Canadiens after signing with the club in the summer. He quickly endeared himself to the Bell Centre crowd by punctuating his first shift with a fight against Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton.

After the contest, Laraque showed a more emotional side.

"It was unbelievable. You can tell it's going to be special this year, and I feel really fortunate," said Laraque, who went to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.

"This is something no other team could ever say. There's so much history. That's the type of thing that, when you retire, you'll think about and say, 'I was part of that.' That's unreal."