Dylan Larkin crashes into Jake Allen, knocking him out of the game.

This situation could quickly develop into a nightmare scenario for the Montreal Canadiens.

On Saturday night during a matchup between the aforementioned Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings, Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen was forced to leave the game following a violent collision in his own net. The Canadiens have just announced that Allen will not return to tonight's game, and with star goaltender Carey Price already out of action that is an obvious cause for concern.

Allen was injured when Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin crashed hard into both him and the goalpost, a collision that Larkin can hardly be blamed for. Larkin came streaking down the ice with the puck before attempting to cut in front of the Canadiens net to create a scoring opportunity, but was shoved off the play by Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry. That shove was enough to drastically change Larkin's angle of approach, causing him to take out the Canadiens netminder in the process.

Here's a replay of the collision:

If anyone should be criticized for the collision here it has to be Habs defenseman Jeff Petry. Not only did Petry put Larkin in danger by shoving him in such a fashion, but he may now also be responsible for creating an extremely unenviable situation for the Canadiens. Allen was taking on the bulk of the workload for the Canadiens with Carey Price currently on the sidelines, and if Allen goes down that will leave Samuel Montembeault as presumably the next man up.

Montembeault has only looked ok for the Canadiens in his 3 appearances for the team since being claimed on waivers, posting a 3.52 goals against average and an .887 save percentage over 137 minutes of actual time played.

The good news for the Canadiens here is that initially things did not look too serious as far as Allen is concerned. The veteran goaltender appeared to shake off the impact and I believe he would have remained in the game if not for the league's concussion spotters. The fact that he was unable to return is not a good sign, but if Allen himself felt alright on the ice it may be an indication that he won't be out for too long.