The Montreal Canadiens have been more fortunate when it comes to injuries this season compared to the past two years.
Yes, Kirby Dach was injured and ruled out for the season after about four periods of play, and David Savard is out long term as well, but it seemed like the team couldn’t get through a game last year without someone leaving and not returning.
That’s not bad as we are approaching the quarter pole of the season and players were dropping like flies for the past two years.
There have been a couple of minor injuries as well along the way, including Rafael Harvey-Pinard missing a couple of games earlier this month. He returned to action on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins and played well for three games, but it appears he will be out of the lineup again.
The 24 year old winger was not a participant at practice this morning and the team ruled him out of the lineup for tonight’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. The team announced he is day-to-day with a lower body injury.
L'attaquant Rafaël Harvey-Pinard est évalué au quotidien en raison d'une blessure au bas du corps.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 16, 2023
Forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
This should open the door for Michael Pezzetta to return to the lineup and also allow Jesse Ylonen to stick on the fourth line. The trio of Harvey-Pinard and Ylonen playing with Jake Evans looked great in the team’s last game and now Pezzetta will take the left wing spot on that line.
While they didn’t score any goals, the fourth line applied all kinds of pressure on the Calgary Flames and created plenty of scoring chances that they couldn’t quite convert. Harvey-Pinard was a big part of that and looked to be finding his game after struggling to find the scoresheet to start the season.
Hopefully it is a short term absence and the young winger is back in the lineup soon.
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