The Canadiens face the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, in the first of six weeks of games they know they will not be able to rely on Carey Price.
Price has reportedly injured his right knee with a meniscus tear, and is undergoing a procedure to repair the damage without losing irreplaceable cartilage.
That makes Mike Condon the number one goalie for 21 games -- although he is not expected to play every night.
Because there are four occasions when the Habs play games on two consecutive nights, the team expects to rely on Dustin Tokarski, and they want him to be ready.
Instead of having him sit and watch games, Tokarski has been sent to AHL affiliate team, the St. John's IceCaps, to ensure his on-ice reflexes are in top shape.
But when it comes to facing tonight, and the next six weeks, without the league's best goalie, Lars Eller says the team is ready.
"We've lost our best players before and still performed pretty well, so we'll never use that as an excuse," said Eller.
"We're very confident in here that we'll still be able to win games, even without Carey."
The Canadiens are currently leading the NHL with 39 points after 25 games, and that comes after Price missed four weeks of hockey after being injured in late October.
PK Subban said the prospect of knowing the Canadiens are without Price should not change how the team plays hockey.
"The onus is on us as a group to respond the right way. I never like to talk about winning and losing games, ultimately that's what our business is based on, winning and losing, but it's more the process of how we play and our attitude," said Subban.
"If we have the right attitude we'll be fine."
While Tokarski is in St. John's, the Canadiens' backup goalie will be Zach Fucale.
Fucale was Team Canada's starting goalie in the 2015 World Juniors, and has since played 12 games with the IceCaps with a 7-2-2 record.
