Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
The Montreal Canadiens called up forwards Nigel Dawes and Aaron Palushaj from AHL Hamilton on Wednesday as injuries continued to mount on the NHL club.
Centre Tomas Plekanec and winger Jeff Halpern left a 4-2 loss to Washington with lower body injuries and both are question marks for a home game Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Coach Jacques Martin said both players would be evaluated before the game to see if they can play.
The club is already missing defencemen Andrei Markov (knee), Josh Gorges (knee), Jaroslav Spacek (knee) and Brent Sopel (hand) and forwards Max Pacioretty (concussion and fractured vertebra) and Mathieu Darche (suspected groin).
Dawes, 26, was acquired with Sopel at the trade deadline from the Atlanta Thrashers. He has 54 points in 55 AHL games this season. Palushaj, 21, has 17 goals and 27 assists in 57 games for Hamilton.
Darche skated for a fifth straight day and said his condition was improving.
"Every day I push a little harder," he said. "Last week I had to stop for a few days because of a little setback."
Defenceman Roman Hamrlik is to play his 1,300th career game against Tampa Bay, the team that drafted him first overall in 1992. It will also be his 300th game for the Canadiens.