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Ivan Demidov’s sophomore season isn’t getting off to the best of starts.  The Habs announced on Tuesday that the winger will miss the next two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury.  This will be the first time in his young career that he misses regular season action.

Demidov blocked a shot off his foot during the preseason and it seems likely that this is the injury.  He missed multiple practices in training camp for therapy days, then also missed Monday’s skate for one as well.

The youngster managed to play through the injury in the first two games of the season, picking up a goal (the tying marker in Pittsburgh) and an assist along with four shots on net.  While he likely could have continued to try to play through it and just practice less, it feels like both he and the Canadiens are exercising caution and giving the injury time to heal now instead of risking making it worse.

Demidov’s absence will create an opening for Florian Xhekaj to make his season debut as he’s set to play on the fourth line.  While it’s believed that Oliver Kapanen is good to go, he’s set to miss his third straight game.  Kirby Dach is moving up to Demidov’s spot on the second line while the bottom six has been shaken up.  The projected lines for tonight’s game against Carolina are as follows:

Caufield – Suzuki – Kreider
Slafkovsky – Newhook – Dach
Bolduc – Danault – Texier
F. Xhekaj – Evans – Anderson

Meanwhile, it appears that Alexandre Carrier is good to go tonight after exiting Saturday’s game in Pittsburgh with an undisclosed injury.  That means that the defence corps should remain the same as the first two games of the season.  Kaiden Guhle (adductor) was a full participant in practice on Monday but is still believed to be a week or two away from returning.