Shea Weber takes out Brendan Gallagher for two months with shot

Nashville Predators fans have kept a list of Shea Weber’s victims in the NHL that stretches back to 2009. His booming slap-shot has taken out goalie masks and teeth. It has injured opponents, teammates and, once, his own general manager.

Confirmed victim No. 20 on that list is Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens. The team announced on Friday that Gallagher will miss a minimum of eight weeks after surgery on his left hand.

Weber unleashed a shot in the third period against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night that rocketed from the power-play point to the front of the net. But his one-timer, which Sportsnet reported was traveling at 97 miles per hour, caught Gallagher on the hand. He dropped his mitt and his stick and went immediately to the bench, leaving the game.

He underwent surgery on Thursday evening, and is expected to miss around two months.

This is terrible news on several levels.

First, the obvious: The Canadiens are a much better team with Gallagher in the lineup. He only has 18 points in 39 games – and most recently, has been mired in a steep slump – but he’s a possession monster who can play top-line minutes.

Then we come to Gallagher’s history with blocked shots: Namely that he missed 17 games last season after blocking a Johnny Boychuk shot against the Islanders, leaving his fingers as a horrifically tangled mess. To quote John McClane in DIE HARD 2: ‘How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?!’

Finally, we come to a moment of cruel irony:

Yeah, that hurts about as much as a 97-mile-an-hour slap-shot to the hand.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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