Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price makes a glove save against <252>the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Nobody is this dull naturally. We're talking about a gifted professional who has spent years working at it.
The current vogue in NHL goaltending is for big, quick, unflappable-under-pressure athletes – and Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is the prime example.
In the pressure of the playoffs, he has embraced an additional challenge: When obliged to make public statements, talk freely without really saying anything.
It's a skill politicians could use.
There is ample evidence of Price's vibrant personality away from the camera lights – he's funny, thoughtful and sharp-witted. But in the playoffs, there are no pithy one-liners or lengthy analyses.
"Sorry to be boring," he recently said in preface to answering a reporter who was trying to tease out a fulsome explanation about how his outlook has evolved.
When Price speaks during a playoff series, it's a festival of "I'm just focused on the next shot" and "the guys are playing well in front of me." It reached the point after Montreal won Game 5 against Tampa Bay where a Montreal radio reporter pleaded with him to at least admit he was happy about going back to Florida ("Yes," he said, clearly amused by the question).
He's not doing this to be obstinate or curt – it's just that nothing matters more to Price than his single-minded game preparation. So why talk about other stuff?
And let's face it: Boring Carey is winning, and as the Habs prepare to face elimination for the third straight time on Tuesday, this is no small thing. He has a relentless, almost yogi-like focus – an ability that goaltending coach Stéphane Waite helped him take to a new level when arrived two seasons ago. It's almost as if the less Price thinks about and says, the better he plays.
"We practice all season long to be automatic during a game, so you don't really have to think about anything," he said on Tuesday.
The likely Hart Trophy-winner as the NHL's most-valuable player enters Tuesday's Game 6 in Tampa on a reasonable winning streak.
If you include the Sochi Winter Olympics, Price has won seven straight elimination games; in those contests, he has a .969 save percentage, allowing less than one goal a game on average.
Defenceman Jeff Petry, acquired at the trade deadline, said he's never seen as low-drama a goalie as Price is in high-leverage situations.
Winger Max Pacioretty added: "He's playing with a lot of confidence, and the confidence that he brings on the ice and in the dressing room, you could feel it with the players."
It's not out of the question that the Lightning, who score more goals than anyone in the NHL, will find a way around Price. But when he's playing like he did in Games 4 and 5, it's just devilishly difficult.
Price isn't an automaton – catch him when he's riled up after a bad loss and emotions will be expressed, and there may be an occasional lapse into levity, too.
Mostly, though, he is careful to limit his pregame and postgame activities to deflecting praise and complimenting teammates.
It should be said Price's counterpart in the second playoff round, Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, is equally bland and laconic.
When Montreal's P.K. Subban chirpily suggested Bishop has a horseshoe located on his anatomy, Bishop bit back his reply "P.K. is P.K.," he said, pausing. "Yeah."
Both men have been the subject of opposition barbs. Not so incidentally, their play has had a disproportionate impact on the series.
Price, in particular, has stepped to the fore since the Habs went down 3-0 in the series. He made a key save early in Game 4, stopping J.T. Brown on a point-blank chance to preserve a 1-0 Montreal lead. And he made several premium-grade stops in Game 5 – ask Brenden Morrow and Valtteri Filppula about those.
Price was quizzed about his elimination-game form Monday after a team practice at the Bolts' practice facility in suburban Brandon, Fla.
Asked if he's fine-tuned his pregame routine for the playoffs, he looked quizzical and replied: "Just like I said, just trying to practise right and be fundamentally sound."
When the press scrum ended after just a few minutes, he asked "That's it?" and looked around with what looked suspiciously like mild incredulousness.
Not that he had anything more to say.