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After returning Saturday, Price won’t travel to Buffalo

Ottawa Senators v Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL, QC - MARCH 15: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens stops the puck on an attempt by Erik Condra #22 of the Ottawa Senators during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on March 15, 2014 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Canadiens defeated the Senators 5-4 in overtime.

Richard Wolowicz

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price returned from a lower-body injury last night that had sidelined him since the Olympics, but Montreal seems intend on exercising an abundance of caution when it comes to the star goaltender.

With that in mind, the Canadiens didn’t even want Price to travel with the team for tonight’s game in Buffalo, per the team’s Twitter account.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien specified that Price was staying behind to rest and there’s no indication that he’s suffered a setback on Saturday. Price turned aside 30 of 34 shots as Montreal staged a dramatic 5-4 overtime victory against the Ottawa Senators.

Ottawa was ahead 4-1 late in the third period, but Montreal fought back, scoring the tying goal with 0.3 seconds left of regulation time.

Although it makes perfect sense to avoid using a goaltender that just returned from an injury in both halves of a back-to-back set, it does underscore how inopportune the timing of Price’s injury was.

Just one point separates second and fourth place in the Atlantic Division and Montreal only has 14 contests left in its schedule. Under normal circumstances, this would be the point where the Canadiens would be expected to lean heavily on Price, but it seems they don’t have that luxury yet.

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