Montreal Canadiens: Brendan Gallagher Leaves With Injury
Montreal Canadiens top line of Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher has gone through ups and downs this season.
They have looked dominant at times, but also struggled to find the back of the opponent’s net with consistency. Danault especially has had a hard time scoring goals, but they still dominated possession and were recently reunited and have looked terrific.
Unfortunately, they might be forced apart as Gallagher left tonight’s game with an injury.
Gallagher was battling with Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators along the boards, and though it looked rather innocent, Gallagher gingerly skated away and quickly went down the tunnel to the dressing room. He was quickly followed but the team’s trainer who came back to update Dominique Ducharme shortly afterwards, possibly a sign that he was warning the coach he would be without Gallagher for the night.
Gallagher is having a great season once again, carrying the team’s emotions on his back most nights as he wills the team into battle. He never takes a shift off and punches well above his 5’9″ frame.
The 28 year old is tied for third on the team in points with 23 and his 11 goals trails only Tyler Toffoli on the Habs team.
If the Canadiens were to be without Gallagher for a long period of time it would definitely hurt. They do have much more depth on right wing this season with the additions of Josh Anderson and Toffoli as well as Corey Perry in the offseason and the recent signing of Cole Caufield. You can’t rush a young player like Caufield to fill Gallagher’s shoes, but the option is there if the young winger plays well with the Laval Rocket in the coming days.
Gallagher has missed time in past seasons, but it was mostly due to getting hit in the hand with snapshots that broke his fingers. Hopefully this injury isn’t a serious one, but Gallagher really looked to be favouring his shoulder as he headed to the dressing room.