The Montreal Canadiens have lost another defenseman as Alexei Emelin left Saturday’s contest after colliding with Boston’s Milan Lucic.
The incident occurred on Emelin’s fifth shift of the game, at the midway point of the first period. The Montreal blueliner looked as though he tried to hit Lucic, but ended up taking the worst of it:
At the end of the first, the Canadiens said Emelin had suffered a lower-body injury and wouldn’t return.
It’s a tough blow for the Habs, as they came into tonight’s game already down the services of injured defenseman Raphael Diaz, and only recently got Yannick Weber back after he missed nine games with a lower-body injury.
As a result of the Emelin incident, Montreal will now be forced to finish the game with just five healthy rearguards: Josh Gorges, PK Subban, Andrei Markov, Francis Bouillon and newly-acquired Davis Drewiske.
Of note, this isn’t Emelin’s first run-in with the Bruins this season.
In early March, his cross-check on Tyler Seguin prompted this response from B’s captain Zdeno Chara:
Emelin also got into it last night during a spirited scrap with Winnipeg’s Evander Kane.