Juraj Slafkovsky’s practice ended early Wednesday after a puck caught him in the face, leaving the Montreal Canadiens with another injury scare at an awkward moment.
Stu Cowan reported that the shot came from Cole Caufield. Slafkovsky then made his way back to the locker room and, by all accounts, was not pleased about it. Practice was already winding down, but he still headed off before the rest of his teammates.
No official word has come on his status, and the injury is not believed to be serious. Even so, it adds another layer of concern for a Canadiens team that just learned Nick Suzuki will miss two to four weeks. Montreal can’t afford many more setbacks right now, especially not to another key piece.
Slafkovsky, 22, has seven points in nine games and a +1 rating. He had been expected to skate on the top line with Kapanen and Caufield.
If he needs to miss time, Martin St-Louis will be forced to shuffle the lineup again. The Canadiens are already dealing with injuries to Ivan Demidov, Florian Xhekaj, and Samuel Montembeault.
Montreal, which sits at 4-3-2, heads to Chicago on Friday to begin a four-game road trip. For a team already juggling injuries, every healthy player matters.
There’s still reason to wait for an update before drawing any bigger conclusions. Getting hit in the face with a puck at practice does not automatically mean a major injury, and the Canadiens have not said anything definitive yet.
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