The Montreal Canadiens managed to escape Thursday's season opener in Toronto with a 4-3 overtime win -- despite being outshot by a 46-27 margin -- thanks to a game-winning tally from Josh Gorges with 10 seconds to play in the extra period. While Montreal won the game, it proved to be a very, very costly win as two-time All-Star defenseman Andrei Markov left in the third period after awkwardly colliding with goaltender Carey Price.
Multiple Canadian media outlets, including TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, reported that Markov could miss anywhere between two-to-four months early Friday, and the Canadiens confirmed Friday afternoon that the defenseman will be on the shelf for the next four months after undergoing surgery for a lacerated tendon in his ankle.
Aside from being Montreal's top defenseman, Markov, 30, has also been one of its leading scorers the past two seasons, finishing the 2008-09 campaign with 64 points, second on the team, trailing only Alexei Kovalev's 65.
This will leave a huge hole on a Montreal blue line that has undergone a number of changes since the end of last season, including the loss of Mike Komisarek to free agency, and the additions of Hal Gill, Paul Mara and Jaroslav Spacek.
The Canadiens were also without veteran rearguard Roman Hamrlik on Thursday due to the flu.
Not only does Markov average well over 24 minutes of ice-time for the Canadiens on most nights, he's also their power play quarterback, leading the team with 39 points on the man-advantage a season ago. Obviously, they're going to need guys like Spacek and Hamrlik (when he returns) to step up and fill some big shoes.
