SPOTLIGHT ON CONDON
Price to miss at least a week
CANADIENS AT DEVILS Prudential Centre, Friday, 7 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN Radio 690
The matchup: This is the first half of a back-to-back set for these teams. They’ll meet again Saturday at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens are in first place in the Eastern Conference after beating the Rangers 5-1 on Wednesday in New York. The Devils are trying to return to the playoffs, but a 2-1 home loss to Columbus on Wednesday reflects the reality for this team — New Jersey has good goaltending, but no scoring.
The goalie situation: Carey Price is out indefinitely with a lower-body — it’s a knee, folks — injury and Mike Condon will be asked to carry the load. The rookie is 7-2-2 and is 11th in the NHL with a 2.16 goalsagainst average. The bad news is that he has only one win in his last four starts. After years of playing in the shadow of Roberto Luongo in Vancouver and Martin Brodeur in New Jersey, Cory Schneider is the Devils’ No. 1 goalie. He’s in the NHL top 10 in GAA (2.05) and save percentage (.927) and his record would be better than 10-6-1 if his teammates scored more goals.
Depth charges: The Canadiens’ depth showed in the win in New York as Devante Smith-Pelly joined the top line and scored two goals, while Sven Andrighetto — the first skater to be called up from St. John’s — scored his first goal of the season and brought some life to Alex Galchenyuk’s line. Coach Michel Therrien’s supposedly boring, defensive style is producing an NHL-best 3.61 goals a game. The Devils are 23rd in the league with 2.33 goals a game. Adam Henrique leads New Jersey with 10 goals, while former Canadien Michael Cammalleri is the leading pointgetter with 22 points, including seven goals.
Injury update: Price aggravated the knee injury that sidelined him for nine games this season and that prompted a suggestion that he came back too soon. The Canadiens insist that he was ready and, while Therrien said Price will be out a week with the latest setback, don’t be surprised if he’s out longer. Alexander Semin suffered a lowerbody injury Wednesday and he’s out for a week. That opens a spot for 27-year-old George “Bud” Holloway to make his NHL debut. Torrey Mitchell is out another week with a lower-body injury and two broken fingers have Brendan Gallagher on the sidelines until January. Defenceman Jarred Tinordi, who has yet to play a game this season, was sent to St. John’s on a conditioning assignment. Patrik Elias made his season debut for the Devils Wednesday after recovering from a knee injury. David Schlemko is day-to-day with a lower-body injury while Ryan Clowe (concussion) and Tuomo Ruutu (broken foot) are long-term casualties.
Coming attractions: The Devils game Saturday (7 p.m., CITY, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690) is the start of a three-game homestand for the Canadiens. They host Columbus on Tuesday and Washington on Thursday before travelling to Carolina on Saturday.