Leading Division Montreal Canadiens will be without key players Alex Newhook And Kayden Goulet for the next few months.
Striker Newhook is out four months after breaking his ankle against the team. Dallas Stars on Thursday evening. Newhook fought with Dallas defender Ilya Lyubushkin while checking before falling onto the ice. His right leg hit the end boards hard. Newhook left the game with the help of two teammates. Lyubushkin received a small fine for cutting.
Newhook, 24, is the Canadiens' fifth-leading scorer with six goals and six assists for 12 points in 17 games. He excelled against two of Montreal's best young players in Ivan Demidov (13 points) and Oliver Kapanen (10 points).
Coach Martin St. Louis will likely change positions after losing Newhook. “I feel like it's an ongoing process given the instability of the league. Sometimes you lose some guys. It forces you to make decisions and that's what we're going to do,” he said Friday.
The Canadiens also announced that defenseman Goulet will miss eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a partially torn adductor muscle. Goulet has been out of the lineup since Oct. 16 with what the team called a lower-body injury. Based on the progress of his rehabilitation, it was decided that he would have surgery instead.
Goulet, 23, has a goal and an assist in five games this season. He had 18 points in 55 games last season, averaging 21:11 for Montreal.
The Canadiens have lost two straight games, including a 7-0 rout of the Stars, but remain atop the Atlantic Division with a .647 points percentage. The team is trying to build on their surprise return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, where they lost in the first round to Washington Capitals.
