Canadiens' Laine exits after knee-on-knee collision vs. Maple Leafs

The injury bug is already biting the Montreal Canadiens.

Saturday's pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs opened with Canadiens defenceman David Reinbacher heading for the locker room, seemingly limping and in considerable pain, after taking a hit from Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies.

Then, just a few minutes later, new Canadien Patrik Laine got the worst of a knee-on-knee collision with opponent Cedric Pare. No penalty was assessed on the play.

"It's a fast game, it wasn't my intention," Pare said when asked about the hit after the game. "It's unfortunate, I hope he's fine."

Laine stayed down on the ice after the contact, clutching his knee as a team trainer attended to him. He then had to be helped off the ice by two teammates, keeping pressure off his left leg. As he made his way to the locker room, the star forward was also seen throwing off his helmet and gloves in frustration.

Following Laine's exit, Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhejaj went after Pare, receiving fighting and instigator penalties, as well as a game misconduct, which ended his night early and gave the Maple Leafs a seven-minute power play.

The loss of these three players all took place within the first five minutes of Saturday's game.

The Canadiens later announced that both Laine and Reinbacher would not return to the game. With Xhejaj done for the night as well, the Canadiens had just four active defencemen for the remainder of the contest.

The Canadiens ended up losing 2-1. Post-game, Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis did not have any updates to share on Laine or Reinbacher.

"I said it before: the league doesn't care, it just keeps going," St. Louis told reporters, referring to the knee-on-knee hit Laine took. "For us, we have to keep going, and that's what we're going to do. We'll see — is this short-term? Long-term? We don't know. He's going to be evaluated, and we'll keep going."