Canadiens' Nathan Beaulieu to miss first 4 games vs. Lightning
The Montreal Canadiens will enter their second-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning down a defenseman.
Young blue-liner Nathan Beaulieu will miss at least the first four games of the series because of injury, Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin announced to the media after practice Wednesday.
Beaulieu missed the final three games of the first-round series after suffering an upper-body injury on a second-period hit by Ottawa's Erik Karlsson. The Canadiens will not reveal any more details about what type of injury Beaulieu suffered so as not to endanger him should he be able to return to the ice later this postseason, Bergevin told the media.
"As you advance in the playoffs you don't want your player's injury to be targeted," Bergevin told the media. "So yes, we're hiding it and that's nothing new. You look at teams that are eliminated now and they reveal all of their injuries. This is our perspective on helping the team and helping our players. So I want to be clear, it's not about a power trip. We're hiding it to protect the player and the organization."
(h/t NHL)
