Montreal Canadiens Will Have To Start Round 3 With Key Injuries
Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme met with the media today to face some questions as the team gears up to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
One thing he mentioned was that the team is likely going to be without a trio of players who will be sidelined with injury to begin the third round.
Game 1 against the Golden Knights will take place on Monday, June 14th, and the Habs depth will be tested in their toughest series yet.
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Ducharme said that he is not optimistic that Jeff Petry, Jon Merrill or Jake Evans are going to be playing when the puck drops to begin the series. He did seem hopeful that the players will be back before too long, but in a series this deep in the playoffs, having a key player miss any time at all could prove crucial.
Dominique Ducharme says they're not confident Jeff Petry, Jake Evans or Jon Merrill will be available for Game 1. But he says they all could be back soon.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) June 11, 2021
Missing Petry will be the biggest loss. The right defenceman plays a huge role on the team, taking regular shifts at even strength, the power play and while shorthanded. The Canadiens have leaned very heavily on its top four defenders and the pairing of Petry and Joel Edmundson has been a huge reason they are currently on a seven game winning streak.
Petry injured his fingers in Game 3 against the Jets, getting his hand jammed in the glass where there is an opening for cameras to peek through.
Jake Evans had stepped up to take on a bigger role late in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was placed on a line with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher and asked to play heavy minutes against Auston Matthew and Mitch Marner, before facing the Winnipeg Jets top line head to head.
He was injured on a dirty hit by Jets centre Mark Scheifele in the final minute of Game 1, shortly after scoring an empty net goal.
Merrill was playing a defensive role on the team’s third pairing after being picked up at the trade deadline. While he’s been out, the Canadiens have used Brett Kulak and Erik Gustafsson on the third pairing, until Petry was also injured and Kulak was elevated to the top four.
Merrill played the first five games against the Maple Leafs and there was little said about what happened to cause the injury. Ducharme said at the time that he would be out “a week or two” and that was 13 days ago, so the veteran defender should be very close to a return.
The Canadiens were able to win Game 4 against the Jets without these three players, but wouldn’t want to go too deep into the next series without them.
Next. Habs Playoff Run Has Us Feeling a Deja Vu. dark
Luckily, it sounds like all three could be back before long, which is great news as the Canadiens get rested and healthy over the next few days as they prepare to face the Golden Knights with a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on the line.