The Montreal Canadiens will be without star goaltender Carey Price Saturday night as the Habs host the road-weary Philadelphia Flyers.
Carey Price out with a stomach flu – Robert Mayer called up from Hamilton #Canadiens #Habs
— Alyson Lozoff (@AlysonLozoff) February 16, 2013
The Canadiens will definitely miss their starting goaltender.
Excluding a 6-0 loss to Toronto last Saturday, Price has surrendered three goals or fewer in his other 10 starts, yielding two or less seven times. He ranks among the league leaders with a 2.06 goals-against average.
Backup Peter Budaj will likely get the start, looking to lead Montreal to a third straight victory Saturday night against the Flyers.
With Price on the sidelines, Canadiens goaltending coach Pierre Groulx strapped on the pads during the Habs practice Saturday morning.
Pierre Groulx remplace Carey Price a l’entrainement matinal. / Pierre Groulx filling in for Price at practice. twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/s…
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 16, 2013
After winning six of eight to open the season, Montreal (8-4-1) dropped three straight before responding with consecutive victories on its two-game road swing in Florida.
After getting off to a great start at home, Montreal has struggled at the Bell Centre, dropping two straight at home after a five-game home win streak.
Montreal has had offensive issues as well, scoring one goal or none in three of its past five games.
The Flyers (6-8-1), though, haven’t exactly been lighting things up offensively lately, ranking near the bottom of the NHL with 2.46 goals per game.
Philadelphia went 3-0-1 on a recent homestand but has lost two of the first three games on its season-high six-game trip, including Friday’s 5-3 defeat to New Jersey. The Flyers lost despite scoring three first-period goals and outshooting the Devils 28-19.
“I mean guys were skating hard today,” said captain Claude Giroux, who had two assists. “We got a 3-1 lead, we have to find a way to get it done. We have to learn from this.”
#Flyers vs. #Habs: Claude Giroux had 2-1-3 in 3 GP vs. Montreal last year. Andrei Markov has just 0-2-2 in past 7 GP overall.
— Chris Nichols (@Nichols_NHLPool) February 16, 2013
Matt Read leads the Flyers with six goals, scoring his third in five games Friday.
Philadelphia could be without top defenceman Kimmo Timonen after he left Friday’s contest in the third period with a lower-body injury.
The Flyers have been outscored 31-21 in losing seven of nine on the road.
Rene Bourque scored 2:10 into overtime Thursday, the only goal the Canadiens could muster on 32 shots.
The team’s power play hasn’t been much help recently, converting 1 of 14 opportunities over the past three games.
Philadelphia’s Ilya Bryzgalov has allowed 10 goals in his last three starts and could give way to Brian Boucher with games on back-to-back nights. Boucher made his only appearance this season in relief at Toronto on Monday, yielding one goal on 10 shots.
The Flyers have won three straight and six of seven against the Canadiens.
