Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov will be out two to four weeks with a lower-body injury, the team announced Tuesday morning. Demidov did not skate on Monday due to what the team described as a therapy day. As TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde points out, this will mark Demidov’s first missed game as a member of the Canadiens. Lalonde reports Kirby Dach will join the second line alongside Juraj Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook in Demidov’s absence, while Florian Xhekaj will draw into the lineup for Tuesday’s game. “It gives an opportunity to someone else to make some plays,” head coach Martin St. Louis said of losing Demidov. “We have the depth for that, we can come in waves, confident we can keep going knowing that we lost a pretty good piece.” The 20-year-old Demidov had a goal and an assist in Montreal’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday for his first points of the season. Demidov led all rookies in scoring last season with 19 goals and 62 points in 82 games and finished second to New York Islanders standout defenceman Matthew Schaefer in Calder Trophy voting. He added three goals and nine points in 19 playoff games before the Canadiens were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Final. Demidov signed an eight-year, $73.2 million contract extension on July 1. The deal will kick in to begin next season and run through the 2034-35 season at a cap hit of $9.15 million. Montreal will take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday evening in their home opener. The Canadiens are 1-0-1 with three points to start the season, having beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs in their season-opener before falling to the Penguins in overtime over the weekend.
