The Montreal Canadiens didn’t need any more bad news.
But on Tuesday, they got some anyway.
Center David Desharnais, fourth among all Habs forwards in assists this year, was in a walking boot after taking a Tom Gilbert shot during Monday’s 6-2 beating in Arizona -- dropping the Canadiens to 8-22-1 over their last 31 games -- and won’t play tomorrow when Montreal takes on Colorado.
Desharnais has been a lightning rod in Montreal this year -- he’s one of head coach Michel Therrien’s favorite forwards, but isn’t exactly a fan favorite. Undeterred, Therrien has continued to use the diminutive pivot quite a bit, as Desharnais averages over 16 minutes a night and is second on the club in faceoff duty, trailing only Tomas Plekanec.
With Desharnais out, Montreal’s lines looked like this on Tuesday:
Alex Galchenyuk--Tomas Plekanec--Brendan Gallagher
Max Pacioretty--Lars Eller--Sven Andrighetto
Paul Byron--Jacob De La Rose--Dale Weise
Tomas Fleischmann/Lucas Lessio--Torrey Mitchell--Devante Smith-Pelly