Carey Price starting for Canada in medal round; Kunitz back with Crosby

SOCHI, Russia – Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens will have the crease for Team Canada as they open the Sochi Olympic medal round against the winner of Switerzland and Latvia on Wednesday.

Coach Mike Babcock confirmed that Price will get the nod.

Price is 2-0-0 with a 0.98 GAA and a .943 save percentage, winning against Norway and Finland. Roberto Luongo shut out Austria in his only start in the tournament.

As we’ve said all along, Team Canada wanted Price to be the starter in the medal round. He passed the tests he was given the first round, dealing with both the larger ice and the Olympic spotlight. Luongo has the experience and the gold medal, but Price has the confidence of the team’s braintrust.

In other Team Canada news, Chris Kunitz was back on Sidney Crosby’s wing in practice, along with Patrice Bergeron. Crosby has played well, but has only tallied two assists in three games. Kunitz has yet to score, and was bounced around the lineup in the preliminary round. Bergeron played with Crosby against Finland.

Canada also reunited Jamie Benn with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, with whom he played in the 2012 World Championships.

"They’ve played together all year," said Babcock of Crosby and Kunitz. "We thought we had a real good game out of Benn and Bergeron and Crosby last game. We just feel we need Getzy’s line to be good as well. So we’re just trying to get everything going as best we can.’’

According to Yahoo Sports’ Nick Cotsonika, Matt Duchene was rotating in on that line as an extra forward. That means Marty St. Louis could be a scratch for the quarterfinal, as PK Subban is expected to be as well.