UPDATE: According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Brendan Gallagher has a fractured jaw. LeBrun added that Gallagher will require surgery and is out for the remainder of Montreal’s First Round series versus Philadelphia.
TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie tweeted after Game 5 between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers that news was circulating that Brendan Gallagher suffered a fractured jaw after receiving a crosscheck to the face from Matt Niskanen.
Going back to Matt Niskanen’s move on Brendan Gallagher, what is currently circulating is that Brendan Gallagher allegedly sustained a fracture from the stick hit directly to the @CanadiensMTL forward’s mouth. The shock was very hard without a doubt. https://t.co/mmy6NIwndy
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) August 20, 2020
Canadiens Brendan Gallagher Allegedly Suffers Fractured Jaw
As seen in the replay, Niskanen comes back at Gallagher after losing the initial puck battle in the corner. Gallagher turns around when the puck goes past him and Niskanen drops him in the corner with a crosscheck to the face. Gallagher stays down for a couple of seconds before pointing at his mouth which is bleeding. He continues to chirp at the ref heading towards the bench and appeared to have lost a few teeth.
During the regular season, Gallagher scored 22 goals and 21 assists for 43 points in 52 games.
In nine postseason games, including the Qualifying Round, Gallagher has scored one goal and three assists for four points.
What This Means for the Future
This is all speculation as there are no confirmed details on the injury as of yet. So it’s also unknown if Gallagher will actually have to miss anytime because of the injury. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Gallagher put on a cage and play in Game 6 for the Canadiens as that is just the type of player he is. Gallagher played his best game of the series in Game 5, scoring his first goal of the postseason. He is the heart and soul of the Canadiens lineup. The Canadiens will certainly need him if they hope to continue their quest for the Stanley Cup.
The other news from this as Elliott Friedman reported is that the league will be reviewing this play. Any contact to the head gets reviewed by NHL Player Safety and this is no different. We should hear a ruling on the incident sometime before Game 6 on Friday night.
Hearing this is on the NHL’s radar https://t.co/D1Vh7KEaqC
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 20, 2020
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