Report: Canadiens G Carey Price out at least six weeks

The start of the 2015-16 NHL season has not been kind to Montreal Canadiens’ goaltending extraordinaire Carey Price. And it doesn’t appear to be getting back on track anytime soon.

The Habs announced Monday that the 28-year-old netminder will miss at least six weeks with "a lower body injury that will not require surgery,” Arpon Basu of LNH.com reported. The stint will keep Price out until, at the very least, mid-January.

Price returned between the pipes Nov. 20 after an injury to his right knee sidelined him for almost a month. He re-aggravated his knee Nov. 25 in a contest against the New York Rangers that took him out of the game in the second frame.

Price is among the league leaders with a 2.06 goals against average and .934 save percentage to go along with his 10-2 record.

Montreal has shown that it can continue its winning ways even with Price sidelined. Rookie Mike Condon has proved to be steadfast in net, registering an 8-2-3 record with a 2.19 goals-against average and .916 save percentage — and NHL “Star of the Week” honors — since filling in the starting roll.

The long stint on IR for Price means it's likely that Condon will be the starter in the Winter Classic between the Habs and the Boston Bruins at Gillette Stadium on New Years Day — which, as Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo!Sports points out, makes for an interesting story line given that Condon is a Massachusetts native.