Carey Price may be ready to return when the Montreal Canadiens play the Vancouver Canucks at Bell Centre on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, SNP, NHL.TV).
The 31-year-old goalie practiced Wednesday for the first time since missing the past three games because of a lower-body injury.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Price said at Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, Quebec. “It was nice to get some time off and get things settled down and start feeling normal again.”
Price last played Dec. 22, when he made 23 saves in a 4-3 overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
He said he played with the injury for about seven weeks before he was placed on injured reserve after practice Dec. 27, retroactive to Dec. 22.
“It was his first practice with the team,” coach Claude Julien said. “I know he had some treatments and he was on the ice a few times while we were on the road. I want to make sure that he is ready to resume playing. I think at worst he can be the backup goalie but for the moment I’m not able to say that he will be our starting goalie (Thursday).”
Michael McNiven, who had backed up Antti Niemi the past three games, was returned to Laval of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
Montreal went 2-1-0 during the trip without Price. Niemi started all three games and had a 3.68 goals-against average and .895 save percentage.
Price is 15-10-4 with a 2.84 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 30 games this season.
On Friday, Price’s wife, Angela, announced on Instagram that she had given birth to the couple’s second daughter.
“It was definitely a perfect storm and everything,” Price said. “It wasn’t the plan but it just happened to work out that way.”
Julien did not have an update on forward Andrew Shaw, who left the game Monday because of an upper-body injury and did not practice Wednesday.
“He’s still being examined and they haven’t given me the final detail on the status of his injury,” Julien said.
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2CMcFBi
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