The Habs will be without defenceman Kaiden Guhle for their game against Carolina on Saturday as the Department of Player Safety announced that the blueliner has been suspended for one game for his slash on Flyers winger Travis Konecny.
The incident – which can be viewed here – occurred in the dying seconds of the second period on Thursday night and was in retaliation to a hit that Konecny threw on Juraj Slafkovsky. As Konecny was skating by, Guhle reached out and slashed Konecny. In their video announcing the ruling, the league indicated that most contact from the bench can be addressed either with an in-game penalty or a fine but clearly, they determined that this incident was above that particular level of discipline.
With Guhle not being available, Johnathan Kovacevic will return to Montreal’s lineup but there could be some juggling on each pairing. Kovacevic struggled when he played in an elevated role earlier in the season while Jordan Harris might not be able to handle big minutes as well. Accordingly, David Savard could be split from Arber Xhekaj to move up for the top pairing with one of Harris or Kovacevic sliding onto the second pairing where the minutes and matchups would be a bit lighter. Guhle will be available to return on Tuesday versus Florida.