The division-leading Montreal Canadiens will be without key players Alex Newhook and Kaiden Guhle for the next few months.
Newhook, a forward, is out four months after fracturing his ankle in a loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Newhook battled with Dallas defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin while on the forecheck before falling to the ice. His right leg slammed hard against the end boards. Newhook left the game with the assistance of two teammates. Lyubushkin was given a minor penalty for hooking.
Newhook, 24, is the Canadiens' fifth-leading scorer with six goals and six assists for 12 points in 17 games. He had been excelling on a line with two of Montreal's top young players in Ivan Demidov (13 points) and Oliver Kapanen (10 points).
Coach Martin St. Louis will likely scramble his lines after the loss of Newhook. "It's an ongoing process, I feel, with the volatility of the league. You lose some guys sometimes. That makes you make decisions, and that's what we're going to do," he said Friday.
The Canadiens also announced that Guhle, a defenseman, will miss eight to 10 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a partially torn adductor muscle. Guhle has been out of the lineup since Oct. 16 with what the team called a lower-body injury. Based on his rehab progress, it was decided he would have surgery instead.
Guhle, 23, had a goal and an assist in five games this season. Last season, he had 18 points in 55 games, playing 21:11 on average for Montreal.
The Canadiens have lost two games in a row, including a 7-0 drubbing by the Stars, but remain atop the Atlantic Division with a .647 points percentage. The team is trying to build on its surprising return to the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, where they lost in the first round to the Washington Capitals.