Canadiens' Price won't return until after All-Star break
The Montreal Canadiens' crease will remain the property of Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens.
Goaltender Carey Price - out of action since Nov. 25 with a lower-body injury - will not return until after the All-Star break, head coach Michel Therrien announced on Friday.
Price was originally scheduled to miss six weeks of action, which would have set him up for a return around Jan. 11. He's obviously behind schedule. The NHL pauses for All-Star festivities from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1.
Montreal's been in a free fall since Price left its game on Nov. 25, a 5-1 win against the New York Rangers. The Canadiens are 6-12-1 in the 19 games Price has missed since aggravating his injury.
Montreal recently made a couple of minor trades in order to shore up its goaltending situation. Scrivens was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for Zack Kassian, leading to Thursday's trade of Dustin Tokarski to the Anaheim Ducks for Max Friberg.
Price was having another excellent season before the injury. He's 10-2 with a .934 save percentage and two shutouts. But he'll remain a cheerleader for at least the next three weeks, and the Canadiens will have to do their best to stay afloat in the Atlantic Division without him. Montreal's tied for second with the Detroit Red Wings at 49 points, but the Boston Bruins are only five points behind with four games in hand.
#Habs play eight games between today and Feb 1. #Price
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) January 8, 2016
Condon has a .908 save percentage and has struggled over the past two months. He had a .906 save percentage in November, and followed that up with an abysmal .888 in December. January's been good so far - he's 2-0 with a .958 save percentage. Montreal's going to need more of that.
Scrivens hasn't gotten off to a good start with his new team. He's 0-2 with a nasty .885 save percentage.