MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens forward Georges Laraque faces a potential suspension Monday morning over Saturday's knee-on-knee collision with Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall.

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Niklas Kronwall of the Detroit Red Wings is helped off of the ice after being tripped by Georges Laraque of the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL game on November 21, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Photograph by : Getty Images

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Laraque has a hearing with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell over the incident, which was punished at the time only with a tripping minor.

Kronwall was helped from the Bell Centre rink after the first-period open-ice collision. Sunday, an MRI indicated Kronwall had suffered a bad sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He's expected to miss at least a month.

Laraque already was headed to the box on a delayed penalty, ultimately a double-minor for having high- sticked and cut Detroit's Darren Helm, when he and Kronwall collided in the neutral zone.

"There is no (anterior cruciate ligament) damage and that's good news," Detroit general manager Ken Holland told Detroit media on Sunday.

"They're saying it's between a Grade 2 and (most severe) Grade 3 sprain. He's out a month for sure and beyond that, it depends on how he heals. . . . A range of somewhere between four to eight weeks."

Laraque maintained the hit was accidental.

"There were four refs on the ice and they didn't call anything," he said after the game, a 3-2 shootout victory for the Red Wings.

"If they called a match penalty, it would be different. There was no intent, there was no reason why I would try to go and hurt him. It was a pure accident. That's why they called it tripping, so I'm not worried at all."

That's not how the Red Wings saw it Saturday.

"It doesn't belong here and it's sad that that's still going on," said forward Henrik Zetterberg. "(Laraque) was late (on his check), he saw he was late and he just put out his leg. It was a bad hit and he should be out of the game."

Said Holland on Saturday: "Was it knee to knee? Yes. Was it a dirty hit? Yes, I thought it was a dirty play. I have no comment on the referees because I have the luxury to look at it in slow motion. But it was knee to knee and it was a dirty play, and it's a play we don't want in hockey."

Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin had no comment at his post-game briefing, saying he'd not yet seen a replay. But his Detroit counterpart, Mike Babcock, had his views:

"That's something that shouldn't happen in hockey," Babcock said. "A guy shouldn't hang his leg out there and hurt another guy. It's unacceptable and it's disappointing because we just lost a good hockey player for a period of time."

The Canadiens had Sunday off and return to practice in Brossard, Que., Monday morning to prepare for Tuesday's Bell Centre game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

There should be an update Monday morning on the health of centre Scott Gomez, who missed Saturday's game with a lower-body injury, reportedly his groin, that lists him as day-to-day.

Montreal Gazette

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com