MONTREAL – Montreal Canadiens fans are going to have to wait one more day to find out if goaltender Carey Price will make his return to the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes.
Price, who missed Montreal’s first three games of the season with a severe case of the flu, took part in his first full practice Wednesday and said he’s eager to get back into game-action.
“I feel good,” said Price. “It’s nice to get some rubber, take some shots and get a good sweat in again.”
It was on Monday, Oct. 10 that Price came down with cold symptoms. A few days later he developed a fever, and by Friday the Canadiens announced he was under team doctor David Mulder’s supervision and placed on antibiotics.
“I lost about seven or eight pounds,” said Price. “Everybody’s probably had the flu before so you kinda know it takes a couple of days before you get your energy back, especially playing sports.”
Backup Al Montoya, who signed a one-year, $950,000 contract with Montreal in July, has been remarkable in Price’s absence. He backstopped the Canadiens to a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday to improve his record to 2-0-1, and he’s stopped 101 of 105 shots faced for a .league-leading 962 save percentage.
Last year, with Price sidelined by injury for all but 12 games, the Canadiens went 28-36-6.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien is certainly looking forward to having his No. 1 netminder back as soon as possible.
“The more we see of him, the better he seems,” said Therrien in French. “One thing’s for sure, we’re going to re-evaluate the situation [Thursday] and when he’s ready to play the medical staff will make the final call.
“He’s obviously eager to get back in there, I’m eager to see him, I’m sure our fans are eager to see him back in front of the net. But today was really his first good day, which was very encouraging.”
Stopping the puck isn’t the only thing the Canadiens miss from Price when he’s not playing. His ability to move the puck makes it that much easier for Montreal to transition from defence to offence, according to defenceman Nathan Beaulieu.
“When we scout against guys like [Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender] Ben Bishop or [Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike] Smith, they’re really good puck movers so you try to keep it away from them because he gets it behind the net he’s finding an outlet, he’s not just rimming it,” said Beaulieu.
“[Price] is like a third defenceman for us out there,” Beaulieu continued. “When he gets it, we just kinda peel off and get open for him.
“A huge part of our defence is Price, and he can snap it up even on the power play. Killing penalties you can dish it back to him and he’ll fire it out. He’s such a big presence offensively; that’s weird for a goalie but he’s offensively there for us.”
Price has 11 assists over his NHL career.
If he plays on Thursday, it’ll be his first regular-season start for the Canadiens in 331 days.