Alex Newhook is expected to be out for four months for the Montreal Canadiens after the forward had surgery Friday for a broken ankle.
Newhook was injured when he fell feet-first into the boards at 4:10 of the second period of the Canadiens’ 7-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
He is tied for second on the Canadiens with six goals in 17 games, and his 12 points are fifth. He played all 82 games last season.
“It was really tough,” Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said Thursday. “Obviously, we’re going to be without ‘Newy’ for a little bit here, a player that worked really hard in the offseason and knew how important the season was to him and our team. He was having an unbelievable year and you just feel for him at this point.”
Defenseman Kaiden Guhle had surgery Thursday for a partially torn adductor muscle and is expected to be out 8-10 weeks.
Guhle already has missed 12 games because of the injury, sustained during a 3-2 overtime win against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 16. He has two points (one goal, one assist) and is averaging 19:14 of ice time in five games.
Montreal also is missing forward Patrik Laine, who had core muscle surgery Oct. 25 and was expected to need 3-4 months to recover. He has one assist in five games this season.
The Canadiens (10-5-2) have lost two straight and have one win in their past five games (1-2-2). They next play at home against the Boston Bruins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, CITY, SNE, NESN, NHLN).
NHL.com independent correspondent Sean Farrell contributed to this report
