Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.
Montreal Canadiens
There were many players absent from Montreal Canadiens morning skate on Friday ahead of Game 3 of their opening-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, per TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde.
Here we go! Playoff hockey at the Bell Centre.
— Kenzie Lalonde (@KenzieTSN) April 24, 2026
Not everyone is skating today - Newhook, Struble, Slafkovsky, Anderson, Dach are just a few names absent. #Habs pic.twitter.com/B3yChjTDd8
As Lalonde reports, Alex Newhook, Jayden Struble, Juraj Slafkovsky, Josh Anderson and Kirby Dach were among the players that were not on the ice for the session.
Anderson was absent from practice yesterday as well, as well as defenceman Mike Matheson. The 31-year-old Anderson, who has been a surprise star in the early part of this series with goals in each of the first two games, appeared to suffer an injury on a hit by Scott Sabourin late in the third period of Game 2 on Tuesday - a play which was whistled for a five-minute major for interference on Sabourin initially, but was later reduced to a two-minute minor.
Anderson left the ice after sustaining the hit and did not return.
The team did not report any issue for Matheson, who ranked third among all skaters in ice time (28:47) in Game 2.
Slafkovsky skated on Thursday and the team has not reported any injury issue for the third-year player. He was the hero in Montreal’s victory in the series opener, scoring the overtime winner to complete a hat trick.
Game 3 of this series goes from Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday, with the series tied 1-1 after a pair of overtime games in Tampa Bay.
Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters that goaltender Dan Vladar is not working in practice on Friday because he is taking a maintenance day.
Vladar also did not participate in practice on Thursday.
“Another maintenance day for him, two days off is going to help him,” Tocchet said, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. “We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”
Vladar, 28, has helped the Flyers jump out to a 3-0 series lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins in starting the first three games of the series. He has saved 70 of 74 shots for a sterling .946 save percentage, and registered a shutout in the 3-0 victory in Game 2 on Monday.
The Flyers will attempt to complete the sweep in Game 4 on Saturday in Philadelphia.
