On the Calgary Flames …
Pat Steinberg: Lance Bouma is finished for the season after he pulled his oblique.
On the New York Rangers …
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Defenseman Ryan McDonagh will be out for at least the start of their first round after a small break to one of his metacarpals in his right hand after blocking a shot on Monday.
On the Montreal Canadiens …
Eric Engels of Sportsnet: The Montreal Canadiens have shut down Carey Price for the season.
“The recovery process can be long in the case of an elite netminder such as Carey, due to the high demand placed on this anatomical structure by modern goaltending techniques,” Montreal’s head physician Dr. Vincent Lacroix said in a team release. “He is expected to make a full recovery over the off-season.”
Price said he was real close to returning.
“(I was) really close (to returning),” Price said. “Especially over the last two weeks I felt like my progression was really speeded up. I can’t really say for sure, but I’d say probably a couple more weeks and I’d be back into game action.”
P.K. Subban was also shut down for their final two games.
“Ultimately the doctors said there’s three things,” Subban said. “You have to have 100 per cent mobility, no pain, and then psychologically be prepared to play. Right now all three of those categories just aren’t fulfilled yet.”
The Canadiens also said that Mark Barberio (concussion), Victor Bartley (groin/broken foot) and Lucas Lessio (knee) are also done for the season.
On the St. Louis Blues …
Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Goaltender Brian Elliott left practice early after taking a shot of the inside of his blocker hand.
“(I’m) totally fine. It happens every day in practice, you’re always taking shots,” he was quoted as saying on the team’s Twitter feed. “With all the injuries, we have people get a little sensitive but I’m all good and ready to go for tomorrow.”
Robby Fabbri and Jay Bouwmeester both practiced yesterday, but there status for Thursday’s game won’t be known until tomorrow.
“They looked fine. They haven’t been cleared yet,” Hitchcock said. “We’re going to talk to the (trainer) Ray (Barile) and his staff and then the players and see if they’re cleared for tomorrow. It’s probably the fourth day in a row where they’ve looked good, but neither has been cleared for game time play. We’ll have to wait on that. Both guys were full participants today.”
Steve Ott didn’t practice and won’t play in any of their remaining regular season games.
“I think we should probably wait on Steve’s situation and we’ll get you something in the next 24 hours on him,” Hitchcock said.
On the Dallas Stars …
Mark Stepneski of Stars.NHL: Both defensemen Kris Russell and Jason Demers practiced with the team yesterday. Russell has been out for seven games with a foot injury.
“There’s a good chance that Russell will play tomorrow,” Ruff said. “We think he is ready and out of harm’s way.”
Demers has been out since March 8th with a shoulder injury, practiced with a no-contact jersey.
“He is real close,” Ruff said. “He skated in a non-contact fashion today. I think there is an opportunity to get him in by the weekend and whether we would do that, we’d have to see.”
Tyler Seguin has been out since March 17th with a cut to his Achilles tendon, is back skating.
“He’s skating in a limited fashion, I would say somewhere between the 50 and 75 percent range,” Ruff said. “There are times he pushes it, but we’re trying to be a little cautious with that, too. He’s progressing nicely, and we just hope to keep on progressing here.”
Patrick Eaves didn’t practice yesterday due to a mid-body injury.
Mattias Janmark didn’t practice yesterday. He missed Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury.
Brett Ritchie didn’t practice yesterday, but is progressing from his lower-body injury.
“Slow, but we are making a little bit of progress,” Ruff said. “He was on the ice in a real light skate fashion.”
