Déjà Vu: Canadiens Lose Patrik Laine Four Minutes Into Saturday Night Game

The Montreal Canadiens acquired former 40-goal scorer Patrik Laine to boost the offense, which has ranked in the bottom third of the league for the past two seasons. However, their plans to deploy the Finnish sniper took a drastic turn on Saturday night when he departed the contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs after a knee-on-knee collision.

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On the power play, Laine was skating through the neutral zone and entered the Maple Leafs zone when he tried to cut around Cedric Pare, who clipped Laine on the left knee.

There was no penalty on the play, as the 26-year-old had to be carried off the ice, not putting any weight on his leg. Because the officials didn't call anything on the play, Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj took retribution into his own hands by jumping Pare in the offensive zone.

Because of his actions, Xhekaj received the rare 2-5-10-10 penalty line, which included two for instigating, five for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct, and a ten-minute game misconduct.

Only 4:47 into the game, Montreal were down three players as defenseman David Reinbacher left just 13 seconds into his first shift after a collision.

The debate about pre-season games will continue, especially on nights littered with injuries. Stay tuned for updates on both Laine and Reinbacher.

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