The Habs didn’t have Cedric Paquette for most of Sunday’s game after he was ejected in the first for a hit on Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras. They’ll also miss him for the next two games after he was suspended by the league on Monday.
As part of their video announcement regarding the suspension, the following was mentioned:
“It is important to note that while Zegras does pivot slightly while making a play with the puck, this is not a case of a player turning his back immediately prior to contact in a way that turns a legal hit into an illegal one. When Zegras collects the puck in the corner, Paquette is at the bottom of the faceoff circle. From that time, until the moment he delivers the check, Paquette sees nothing but Zegras’ numbers. The onus is on Paquette to deliver this hit in a legal fashion, minimize the force of the contact or avoid the hit entirely. Instead, he hits forcefully into Zegras’ back, driving him dangerously into the boards.”
Montreal will not be able to remove Paquette from the active roster in order to bring up a replacement player which will hurt them a bit as they carry multiple players on the active roster that are believed to not be 100% (Jeff Petry, Brendan Gallagher, and even Jake Evans despite playing and scoring on Sunday). Paquette will miss Tuesday and Thursday’s games and will be eligible to return on Saturday against Vegas.