Capitals lose Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller due to injury in the third period

Capitals lose Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller due to injury in the third period

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Washington Capitals lost its two main remaining centers in Tuesday’s third quarter against the New York Islanders. The capitals are already playing without Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is on the NHL’s COVID outage list.

Both Backstrom and Eller suffered head injuries.

Backstrom was injured at the end of the first period after absorbing a hard dump-in on the face in the center of the ice. Backstrom would return soon to the locker room. When he returned to the bench, he sported a huge bruise on his left cheek and blood on the shoulder of his shirt.

Backstrom would take regular turns in the second period and most of the third before leaving the game with 3:30 remaining.

Here was the Backstrom turn chart for the game.

Meanwhile, Lars Eller received a check on the back of Islanders striker Leo Komarov. Eller’s head hit the boards. After spending time on the ice, he left the game on his own, a little dizzy. Komarov received a five-minute penalty for boarding.

Eller presumably entered the concussion protocol and did not return to the game. The play happened with 10:59 remaining on the third.

After the game, Peter Laviolette had no updates on any of the players. The capitals have a day off on Wednesday, so we May don’t know more about your status until Thursday.

“I haven’t talked to the coaches yet,” said Laviolette.

Despite everything, the Capitals, while exchanging Michael Sgarbossa and Nic Dowd, managed to win with a goal from Justin Schultz at the last minute. Capitals players who were injured tonight include:

  • Alex Ovechkin
  • Nicklas Backstrom
  • Henrik Lundquist
  • Ilya Samsonov
  • Lars Eller
  • Michael Kempny
  • Tom Wilson
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov
  • Dmitry Orlov

RMNB coverage of Caps vs Islands

Screenshots courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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