The Montreal Canadiens lost their third straight game Tuesday but more importantly lost second-leading scorer Brendan Gallagher to injury.

Coach Claude Julien said Thursday that Gallagher has been placed on injured reserve with a concussion. In the 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday, Gallagher left at 16:55 of the second period when he hit his head on teammate Ben Chiarot's knee after falling backward from a check by Carolina's Jordan Staal.

"He's a heart-and-soul guy for our team, and it's tough to see him go down like that," Chiarot said after the game. "He's not a guy that lays on the ice unless he's really hurt, so hopefully he's not doing too bad."

Gallagher, 27, has 15 goals and 17 assists this season and leads the Canadiens in shots on goal. He scored a career-high 33 goals last season.

The Canadiens, who are currently seven points out of the second wild card, have already been playing without injured forwards Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron.