MONTREAL—Michel Therrien doesn’t feel these things out, he plans them.

At the beginning of every season, the Canadiens head coach looks at the schedule and charts out starts for his goaltenders.

He never deviates from the plan.

But on Sunday night, Therrien was left with no choice but to change course.

Last Thursday in Edmonton, starting goaltender Carey Price had suffered a lower-body injury. He showed no signs of it in warmup the following night in Calgary before taking his place as the scheduled backup. But when Saturday rolled around, he went to team doctors to get evaluated.

The recommendation from the medical staff came late Saturday evening: Price was to be given a week off. With that, Therrien’s plan for Sunday’s game against Winnipeg went up in smoke.

Enter Mike Condon.

The humble 25-year-old from Massachusetts had traveled far off the beaten path to make it to this level. Three years ago, as he considered quitting hockey and getting himself a job in finance, the AHL’s Houston Aeros gave him a five-game look. A year later, he was starting for the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, regularly playing in front of 1,500 fans at the WesBanko Arena.

Condon, who spent last season with Montreal’s AHL affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs, seized the backup position in Montreal from Dustin Tokarski at this year’s training camp.

On Sunday, after winning his first three NHL starts as Price’s backup, he took over as the team’s starter. It was his first regular-season game, in front of 21,288 fans at the Bell Centre.

He waited five minutes to face his first shot, a laser off Mark Scheifele’s stick from 15 feet out. He made highlight reel saves in the second period against Scheifele, Nicolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler. And he refused to admit he was disappointed when Chris Thorburn ended his shutout bid with 6:03 remaining in the third period.

But it’s about much more than that now.

The Canadiens have been determined to remove the narrative that followed them for all of last season. Despite 50 wins and 110 points in the standings, they couldn’t shake the perception that they were a ‘bubble team’ riding the coattails of the world’s greatest goaltender in Price.

A nine-game winning streak to start Montreal’s 2015-16 season had merely chipped away at the narrative. The criticism persisted with faulty performances in three games out west last week, two of them losses.

But the Canadiens put another dent in the narrative in their first of at least four games without Price at their disposal. They took the pressure off Condon by spotting him a five-goal lead before the second period had ended. And they dominated possession, limiting the Jets to three shots on goal in the third period.

Granted, Winnipeg was playing their second game in as many nights. But any hope they had of challenging the Canadiens dissolved with the game’s opening goal; a shorthanded breakaway-marker for depth forward Paul Byron, who was scratched from Montreal’s first 10 games.

Two of the other four goals Montreal scored against the Jets came from Tomas Fleischmann, who was forced to take a PTO with the Canadiens before earning a one-year, $750,000 contract. Another came from David Desharnais, who despite being relegated to the team’s third line, is now tied for the team-lead in points with 12. And the final one came from Lars Eller, who spent the majority of the previous game stapled to the bench.

“It’s huge,” said Therrien about Montreal’s depth and their balanced attack. “This is what I like about our team; everyone contributes the way they’re supposed to contribute.”

Condon is no exception, but as he prepares for Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, he can take comfort in the fact that the Canadiens have scored 21 goals in his four starts.

“Guys bail each other out,” said Condon.

If he doesn’t have to return the favour against the Senators, he might be forced to against the New York Islanders Thursday or the Boston Bruins on Saturday. One truly stellar performance from Condon would go a long way towards proving how much this team has evolved.

That can only give Therrien peace of mind as Price heals and his plan gets back on course.