If the Montreal Canadiens are going to continue their winning ways, they're going to do so without the services of Hart and Vezina Trophy-winning, All World netminder Carey Price. The team announced on Monday that Price, sidelined recently due to a knee injury, would miss the next six weeks and possibly longer.

Price though, will avoid surgery.

Price returned to the ice in mid Nov. for the first time after suffering what the team deemed a "lower body injury" during an Oct. 29 game against the Edmonton Oilers. At the time of the initial injury, Habs head coach Michel Therrien said that Price would miss a week. Mike Condon wound up starting in Price's place well into Nov., when Price finally took the ice for a Wednesday practice and then suited up for a game that Friday against the New York Islanders.

Price appeared in two more games, posting save percentages of .917, .913 and .957 in three-straight wins over the Isles, at home and away, and against the New York Rangers, looking very much like the Price of old in the process.

Condon, an undrafted free agent in his first season at the NHL level, has played surprisingly well in Price's stead. In 14 games backstopping the league-leading Habs, Condon has a .916 save percentage and a 2.19 goals against average.

Assuming the current timeline is accurate, Price should return sometime in mid to late Jan. - plenty of time to leave his mark on the Canadiens' season and, presumably, lead them in the playoffs. But for the moment, it will be the unheralded Condon taking over the lead role for the meat of the Montreal campaign.

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