NHL – According to insiders, Carey Price worked with goalie coach Stephane Waite shortly before the Canadiens started practice and then he participated in the session along with other netminders Charlie Lindgren and Antti Niemi.
Price hasn’t played since Nov. 2 because of a lower-body injury and his recovery has stagnated. The Montreal netminder insisted that he will be back soon and said he would be playing if it were a playoff game, but this “minor” injury has already kept him out for a while.
With Price not dressed, Lindgren and Antti Niemi were left in charge of the Montreal net and are not having a great time without him.
After suffering from a booing home town audience, Lindgren said after the game, “We earned those boos.”
But, Price and the Canadiens have not had a stellar start even with its star goalie in net and have an 8-11-2 record heading into this week’s games.
The 30-year-old goaltender has still not fully recovered from a minor lower-body injury sustained on Nov. 2 against the Minnesota Wild.
Coach Claude Julien was pleased to see Price back at work, but his return to active duty is still up in the air.
“One step at a time. It’s encouraging that he’s practicing with us,” said Julien, “He’s still day-to-day, so we don’t know exactly when he’s coming back. We’ll see how he continues to progress.”
Carey Price calls Anahim Lake, B.C., population 319, home.
When he became old enough to play organized hockey, his parents would load up the car for the drive to Williams Lake, B.C. — 320 kilometres one way — on weekends so he could play.
“My parents gave up a lot so I could play,” Price says. “It’s something I never forget and I will always be thankful for.”
His mom, Lynda Price is the chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation in B.C. His father, Jerry, who often was behind the wheel for those long drives, also was a goalie and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1978, but he didn’t play an NHL game.
