The Vancouver Canucks will get one player back for Monday's game against the New Jersey Devils but they'll lose two more.
Thatcher Demko was activated from Injured Reserve and will make his return to the Canucks' net after missing six weeks with a groin injury but both Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander are out of the lineup for at least the next four games.
"They went home today," said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. "They'll be evaluated when we get back, so they won't be with us for the rest of the trip."
The Canucks have four games remaining on their road trip and won't play again at home until April 2 against the Seattle Kraken, so Pettersson and Höglander will miss at least a week.
Both Pettersson and Höglander left Saturday's game against the New York Rangers prior to the third period.
Pettersson appeared to suffer an injury on a faceoff or, at the very least, aggravate a pre-existing injury.
It's unclear when Höglander was injured but it may have occurred when he fell awkwardly on a hit from Rangers defenceman Will Borgen in his first shift of the second period. He missed the next ten minutes and had just three more shifts in the second period, then didn't return for the third period.
THe timing of the injuries could not be worse for the Canucks, as they are five points back from the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and both Pettersson and Höglander had been heating up in recent weeks, with most of that time spent together on the team's first line.
Prior to the game against the Rangers, Pettersson had 10 points in his last eight games and was riding a six-game scoring streak.
Höglander, meanwhile, had seven points in his last seven games.
The Canucks called up Aatu Räty from the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL under emergency conditions to fill in at centre with Pettersson out of the lineup, while they'll depend on Linus Karlsson to fill in on the wing.
