Carey Price yanked after allowing four goals to Sharks (Video)

Montreal Canadiens superstar goaltender Carey Price rarely gets pulled from a game due to performance.

Before Friday at home against the San Jose Sharks, he hadn’t been yanked because of a coach’s decision since Oct. 13, 2014. In a 7-1 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning But after Melker Karlsson’s goal at the 6:44 mark of the second period that put San Jose up 4-0, Price was ordered to leave the game.

Overall he allowed four goals on 18 shots on goal in almost 27 minutes of action.

“It is difficult because all athletes are really proud and there was a few reasons that we believe that we needed to pull out Carey. First of all, there’s not one guy in the league who likes to get pulled out. But I didn’t like the way we played in front of him,” coach Michel Therrien told reporters. “We gave up a goal early in the second period. We wanted to send a message to our team and in the meantime we wanted to give ourselves a chance to bring him back tomorrow because he’s fresh.”

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On his way down the tunnel to the locker room, Price appeared to stare down the Canadiens bench. He was reportedly not visible when the third period started.

In the game against the Lightning where he was last pulled due to performance, Price allowed four goals on 19 shots on goal. Last season Price played just 12 games because of a knee injury. Before Friday, he was 16-3-2 with a 1.80 goal-against average and .940 save percentage.

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The Sharks beat the Canadiens 4-2, sending Price to his second straight loss. Price did not speak to reporters following the game.

Said defenseman Shea Weber, “He’s stood on his head so many times for us, so it wasn’t easy to see him pulled.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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