The Montreal Canadiens received unfortunate news on Thursday in regards to winger Brendan Gallagher. The Habs forward, who had skated in one of his best games in the NHL playoffs, is out for the remainder of the series after suffering a broken jaw. The injury occurred when Gallagher was cross-checked in the game’s final minutes by defensemen Matt Niskanen.
The cross-check left Gallagher’s mouth covered in blood and even lost a tooth as a result of the injury. However, no penalty was called on the play. Gallagher was sent on Thursday for a CT scan which revealed the worse. Marc Bergevin announced the news to the media, saying he would require surgery and not participate in the meetings that remain.
The rule is pretty clear that anyone who leaves the NHL bubble must provide four negative tests before returning to their team. It makes sense with game six on Friday and a possible game seven on Sunday that returning would be impossible. Again, that would be if a seventh game was necessary.
There was a potential thought about performing the surgery in the bubble, but that didn’t happen. Alain Vigneault touched on the subject on Thursday, saying it was unfortunate that Gallagher is a small player. That comment didn’t go well as expected.
Matt Niskanen had a hearing on Thursday with the NHL Player Safety Department and was handed a one-game suspension. A lot of people thought it warranted more.
Game six, as previously mentioned, is scheduled for Friday at 7:00pm. The game is available for viewing on Sportsnet Ontario, CBC and NBCSN, meanwhile, it can be heard via radio on TSN 690 and 98.5fm. It will also be carried in Canadiens region on TVA Sports to be watched in French.
Once again, it will be a do or die game for Montreal as they hope to keep their season going and force a deciding game seven on Sunday.