Price

Audio:  • Bob Gainey  • Francis Bouillon  • Carey Price

Andrei Kostitsyn, having missed the past two games with the flu, was back on Brossard practice ice this morning.

Alex Kovalev was missing, his red jersey being filled by... Gregory Stewart. Also not on the ice were defenceman Mathieu Schneider and forward Georges Laraque. Nothing mysterious about the three absentees – "therapy days," the team says.

Matt D'Agostini was wearing a sweater that made him a spare part on a line with Plekanec and the Brothers Kostitsyn, though coach Bob Gainey said he needed to talk with Andrei K before deciding that's he up to play tomorrow vs. Chicago.

Defenceman Francis Bouillon took part in his first hard practice since being sidelined Feb. 21 (15 games ago) with a groin injury. Bouillon said that while he wouldn't call it a setback, he experienced pain pushing off and will be ready to return when he's ready. In other words, don't look for him Thursday against the Islanders, as was rumoured last week.

Carey Price (audio courtesy Andie Bennett of Team 990) starts in goal tomorrow. 

Story and Stubbs column from today's Canadiens practice in Brossard:

• Healthier bodies a pleasant dilemma for Carbo
• All-star Price ready to face NHL rubber

And some audio:

• Goalie Carey Price on being ready to return to action, and this coming weekend's All-Star Game in Montreal;
• Winger Christopher Higgins on his rehab, trade rumours (he's not happy with them, and makes that clear, but seems resigned to them in Montreal), and on cracking the lineup again. That's Maxim Lapierre, by the way, who cries out his love in the background;
• Defenceman Mike Komisarek on the frenzy of all-star week and on turning 27, which he did today without a pie in the face from Alex Kovalev;
• Head coach Guy Carbonneau on the newly healthy players for whom he'll have to find room, Price and the all-star game, and the character of a team that has won games of late that it probably had no business winning.

Goaltender Carey Price, captain Saku Koivu and forward Christopher Higgins all are with the Canadiens on their road trip for back-to-back games in Atlanta and New Jersey tomorrow and Wednesday.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that any of the three will see action.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau said after practice today that, based on the way his team has been playing, he's in no hurry to rush anyone back into the lineup. Not with another few days off on the horizon in the form of the all-star break.

It seems likely that Price will start one of the two games. It also seems likely he'll get the green light to play in the all-star game, though Carbo hopes he'll stick to his 20 minutes and not take part in the skills competition. Koivu and Higgins skated full practices today and both looked good.

Georges Laraque skated before the full session but will not travel. Nor will Alex Tanguay (not on the ice) and Mathieu Dandenault (who skated just a few minutes of the practice).

Audio from the dressing room and Carbo's media briefing:

•  Carbo English   • Carbo French   • Lang   • Price   • Maxwell

The executive summary: Goalie Carey Price said he felt about 90 per cent today after a practice that saw him on the ice longer than the Canadiens expected. Head coach Guy Carbonneau said Jaro Halak starts Saturday, and depending on how he does and feels, he could go again Sunday. No need to rush Price at this point.

Price quietly said his injury began in his left quad and moved down to his knee, so it's not groin or hip.

Andrei Kostitsyn saw a doctor today. No damage done from his knee-on-knee hit by the Flyers' Scott Hartnell last night, but Carbo hopes GM Bob Gainey has serious thoughts about discussing it with the league. Kostitsyn is day-to-day, but definitely out for Saturday's game vs. Buffalo.

Happy birthday to Robert Lang, 38 today and the Canadiens' leading scorer. He's proven to be much more than a consolation prize in the sorry Mats Sundin Sweepstakes.

Ben Maxwell is expected to stay up with the Christmas roster freeze, which kicks in today. Maxwell says it will be his first Christmas away from home, but he's happy, needless to say, to be in Montreal.

The Canadiens were in the gym today, having enjoyed a day off on Sunday with Tuesday through Thursday to prepare for back-to-back games Friday and Saturday in Columbus and Toronto. Some audio from the Bell Centre:

• Georges Laraque on the team, fighting and politics;
• Christopher Higgins, an American, on not voting in Tuesday's presidential election;
• Higgins countryman Mike Komisarek on the same election topic;
• Carey Price on the wild night on Long Island, finally a 5-4 Canadiens win, and more.

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu faces the media today during the first day of his team's training camp.
Dave Sidaway, Gazette

The Canadiens began their 2008-09 training camp today with medicals and a plethora of fitness tests, and Inside/Out's Dave Stubbs and Mike Boone burned out their mp3 batteries (seriously, Stubbs did) to bring you the audio bonanza that follows.

No need to describe in a nutshell what the players have to say. You'll no doubt listen to every word. But all are insightful and a little something to slake your thirst before the Habs hit the ice in Pierrefonds on Saturday morning.

Here's who we met near the dressing room today:

• Captain Saku Koivu. Clip runs 15:45
• Alex Kovalev. 16:44
• Christopher Higgins. 14:48
• Mike Komisarek. 16:33
• Carey Price. 6:49
• Alex Tanguay (French and English). 6:59
• Georges Laraque. French runs 8:20
• Laraque. English runs 3:26

From a New York Times blog Q&A with former Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman. Read the full piece here.

Q: I was thrilled when a rookie netminder named Ken Dryden led the Canadiens to the Cup in 1971. Could you please compare Dryden with Carey Price, and comment on the prospects that history might repeat itself in 2008 for the Habs and their rookie goalie? — Steve Valley

SB: I think a more favorable comparison for Price was Patrick Roy, who also won the Stanley Cup as a rookie for the Canadiens. Both Roy and Price joined the farm team when the junior career was over, they both won the Calder Cup for the farm team of the Canadiens, Roy in Sherbrooke when he just came out of junior and Price in Hamilton. The difference between them and Dryden is that when Dryden went in against Boston in the '71 playoffs he’d only had a half dozen NHL games, although he’d played minor pro with the Montreal Voyageurs. Price has played half a season now in the NHL, so he has more NHL experience than Dryden, although not as much minor pro. Dryden was 22 or 23 — he was older because he had played for Cornell — and Price is 20 and so was Roy. So the dynamics are more favorable for a comparison with Roy.

To the surprise of no one, goaltender Carey Price returns to the Montreal net tomorrow night in Boston vs. the Bruins. The rookie has won all three of his starts vs. the Bruins this season, with a 2.33 goals-against average.

Any other lineup changes for the game will be announced by coach Guy Carbonneau after the morning skate in Boston. But speculation is that Steve Bégin, who has missed 11 of the past 13 games, will be back, having nursed a groin injury back to health. 

The Canadiens have beaten the Bruins nine straight times, and would love to make that 11 by Saturday evening, facing their Original Six rival back at the Bell Centre that night.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price with a new pad looming over what he's now wearing. Both left Vaughn's factory at precisely the same size, but the game has pounded down Price's current model, which he's worn only since the end of January.
John Kenney, Gazette

They've nearly reached the end of their two-month life, shrunken by battle, blackened by pucks, scarred by sticks, slashed by skates.

And yet, Carey Price's goalie pads didn't look too shabby yesterday - until they were propped up beside the factory-fresh, graphically redesigned pair he'll begin to break in today and be wearing in games as early as this weekend.

Then they looked like hell.

"This is a little like Christmas," Price said in the Bell Centre dressing room after morning practice, a hulking, 20-year-old kid eagerly inspecting his new custom-made Vaughn Velocity pads pulled from a duffle bag by Jorg Achenbach, the company's pro services rep. "It always seems like Christmas when I get new pads."

Here's the full story from today's Gazette, and a sidebar about the NHL's discussions to shrink league goalies in a bid to increase scoring. You'll also find a photo gallery here of Canadiens goalies through the decades, in what passed for padding during different eras.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Carey Price has sizzled since being promoted last week to the Canadiens' No. 1 netminding job.
John Mahoney, Gazette

Carey Price awoke last Tuesday as the Canadiens' backup goaltender, having started 15 fewer games this season than Cristobal Huet, the veteran with whom he was sharing the netminding duties.

By noon, he was the Canadiens' undisputed No. 1 goalie, Huet gone to the Washington Capitals on the NHL's trade-deadline day in a deal that caught Price, and most everyone else, by complete surprise.

That night, Price made 26 saves to lead the Canadiens over the Atlanta Thrashers and snap the team's two-game losing streak. On Friday, he made 31 stops to beat the Sabres in Buffalo; the next night back in Montreal, 31 saves to defeat the New Jersey Devils.

His stats are tremendous: through this three-game win streak, the 20-year-old from Williams Lake, B.C., has a goals-against average of 1.33 and a sizzling save percentage of .956.

And none of the above, as Price leads his club into a four-game road trip this week, is the least bit unusual for a rookie goalie whose entire young career hasn't been lived by the book of tradition.

In 10 months, Carey Price has gone from playing junior hockey to becoming the de facto No. 1 goaltender of the Canadiens. Here's a look at his remarkable ride:

The Gazette's Pat Hickey reports from the Bell Centre after today's Canadiens practice that Guy Carbonneau will go with Carey Price in goal tomorrow vs. the Atlanta Thrashers.

Lots of speculation around the arena about trades, but no deal has gone down yet.

Listen to Christopher Higgins and Michael Ryder talk about ... all the talk about trades. And here's Mike Komisarek on the same topic, recorded after Saturday's 3-0 loss to Columbus.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price, in the kitchen of his apartment Wednesday, studies a George Foreman grill brought to him by Jill and Dennis Williams, from 2003-07 his billet family while he played with the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans.
John Mahoney, Gazette

Carey Price calls Jill and Dennis Williams his second family, and spending a couple of hours with them Wednesday afternoon in Price's Montreal apartment showed a closeness that comes from living under the same roof for four years.

The Williamses are in Montreal this week, living with Price, reminding him of the joys of home cooking and taking in the sites between Canadiens games at the Bell Centre.

The Gazette and Inside/Out's Dave Stubbs files this feature story on Price, who was 16 when he arrived on the Williams's doorstep in Pasco, Wash., and the couple who have been billeting Tri-City Americans hockey players for nine years – none having left quite the impression of the Canadiens' 20-year-old goaltender.

See below for a photo of Price's well-stocked refrigerator.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price today was named the NHL's third star of the week, recognition of his 3-0-0 record with consecutive victories over Florida and twice over Philadelphia.

Updating Kovalev's status at 5:42 p.m.

Alex Kovalev did not take part in today's practice, nursing a sore ankle apparently dinged early in Wednesday's game vs. the Florida Panthers. Kovalev returned to score the game-winning goal in overtime, but he's not been on skates since, and it's unclear whether he'll be in shape to face the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre on Saturday.

Defenceman Josh Gorges was home... sick. But Roman Hamrlik, out the past week with the flu and a skin irritation, is expected to be back in the lineup.

Carey Price gets the start in goal, and you can hear him here speaking about that.

Other audio: captain Saku Koivu talks about individual success, Michael Ryder and much more.

Canadiens rookie goalie Carey Price says he doesn't spend a lot of time reflecting on the days behind him, but yesterday he said he's still a little amazed at how much happened to him in a momentous 2007.

Read below for a capsule look at his incredible past 12 months: 

Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau announced today that Carey Price will start tomorrow vs. the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre, getting the nod for his good work of late.

Cristobal Huet, who backed up Price Saturday vs. Toronto, will fill the same role tomorrow, and he isn't overjoyed with the idea, having been widely believed to be getting the start. But Carbonneau wants Huet to get another few days of practice before returning to action, having sat out the past six games with a groin injury.

Guillaume Latendresse practised at Verdun with his teammates, but will be a game-time decision, having suffered what's reported to have been an upper-body injury last Thursday in Philadelphia. Defenceman Patrice Brisebois practised as well, rehabbing a shoulder injury, but left early and won't be in the lineup.

A little sound from the dressing room post-practice on Friday afternoon:

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu on the team's troubles at home, playing with Sergei Kostitsyn and Koivu's own goal-scoring drought. Clip runs 3:43.

Goalie Carey Price on fine-tuning his game, home ice, his success against the Maple Leafs and how his mother was impressed by his first apartment in Montreal. Clip runs 2:08.

Rookie forward Sergei Kostitsyn talks about his NHL debut. Clip runs 6:07.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau's daily media conference in English and French. He begins speaking about the health of Andrei Kostitsyn and Guillaume Latendresse. Clip runs 10:47.

The NHL's media relations department has put together a fun package looking at goaltenders' masks, and why they look as they do. Too much to upload here in its entirety, but look below for the masks of Canadiens' Cristobal Huet and Carey Price.

Jaroslav Halak
En route to Montreal

The Canadiens have confirmed last night's RDS website report that goaltender Jaroslav Halak is being recalled from the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens' AHL affiliate.

There was no mention in the team's press release as to why Halak is being recalled, but Cristobal Huet suffered a pulled groin in Saturday's loss to Nashville, and Halak will sub for him, Carey Price getting the start tomorrow at home vs. Detroit. Huet is being listed as day-to-day.

In 11 games this season for the Bulldogs, Halak is 4-4 with a goals-against average of 2.66 and a save percentage of .910.

Halak lost out to Price this fall in the race to be Huet's backup. The native of Bratislava, Slovakia, played 16 games with the Canadiens last season, going 10-6 with a GAA of 2.89 and a save percentage of .906. He had two shutouts.

Halak's callup sends the Bulldogs to the Cincinnati Cyclones, the East Coast affiliate of the Canadiens and Nashville Predators, to elevate goalie Cédrick Desjardins.

Desjardins, 22, has a 6-3-1 record with the Cyclones and a 2.01 goals against average. He has three shutouts this season-most among ECHL netminders and his goals-against average is fifth-best in the league. Desjardins has not allowed a road goal in 130:25, dating back to Oct. 31.