Carey Price will not be in uniform this Sunday night against the Boston Bruins and will not travel with the team for Wednesday’s game in New York. “Maybe” he will play the final duel of the season on Friday at home.
Posted at 4:52 p.m.
Updated at 5:27 p.m.
To replace him, the Canadiens urgently recalled goalkeeper Cayden Primeau.
Price has missed most of the season after going through a long and painful rehabilitation necessitated by knee surgery. He returned to action on Friday, April 15 and has since secured four starts in eight days. He has allowed six goals in each of his last two outings, Thursday and Saturday.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Goalkeeper Cayden Primeau
Head coach Martin St-Louis said the team wanted to give him “rest.” “He played a lot of games for a guy who hadn’t played” all season, he added.
Asked if Price had seen any regression in the condition of his knee, St. Louis said he would have to “talk to the medical staff” to find out more. “We hope he will be ready on Friday. »
Relaunched to know if he was worried about the state of his goalkeeper, he succinctly replied: “Not really. It’s a matter of giving him rest. »
Carey Price underwent knee surgery last July. The timetable initially established for his rehabilitation envisaged a potential return as early as the start of the season, in October. However, he was admitted to the NHL Player Assistance Program due to substance abuse, and then suffered two setbacks in the healing of his knee.
In his absence, Samuel Montembeault will face the Bruins on Sunday night. Forward Laurent Dauphin and defender William Lagesson will be added to the roster, while Michael Pezzetta and Chris Wideman will be left out.
Tribute
As important as this news is for the Canadian and for the future of his franchise player, it will not overshadow the tribute prepared by the organization to the memory of Guy Lafleur, who died Friday at the age of 70 years after a long battle with cancer.
The matchup against the Bruins comes at just the right time, given the great rivalry that has endured between the two clubs for literally a century.
We will attend in particular a long pre-game ceremony, supposed to start at 6:50 p.m. The event will be broadcast throughout North America.
Martin St-Louis, of whom Lafleur was the great idol of youth, estimated that it would be a “very important evening for the organization”. In his eyes, his players played with emotion on Saturday despite the loss to Ottawa, and he expects “even more tonight”.
“Young players like the older ones, they will remember that game,” he added. You play a lot of games in a career, but there are some that stick in your memory. I think it will be one of those games. »
He believes that the tributes paid to Lafleur over the past two days, and even more the one scheduled for Sunday evening, make his players “understand” “what Guy meant for the Canadiens and for the hockey world”.
“I hope they make Guy and the province proud,” he concluded.