NEW YORK — John Carlson was placed on injured reserve Tuesday and is out indefinitely for the Washington Capitals after being struck in the face by a puck during a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
Carlson spent Friday night at a Washington-area hospital before being discharged Saturday. He is under the care of the Capitals’ medical staff.
“I texted with him that night and I talked to him the next day,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. “He’s doing good. He’s out long-term right now and continuing to get looked at by the doctors.”
Carlson was hit in the right side of his face with a slap shot by a Jets defenseman Brendan Dillon 53 seconds into the third period. He immediately dropped to the ice and was bleeding before being helped to the locker room.
The NHL requires players placed on injured reserve to miss a minimum of seven days after the date he was injured. Laviolette said Carlson will be out longer than that.
“If it was [seven days]our lingo, he’d be day to day, but he’ll be past day to day,” Laviolette said.
Carlson is tied for fourth on the Capitals and leads their defensemen with 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in 30 games this season. The 32-year-old missed six games from Oct. 31-Nov. 9 because of a lower-body injury.
Washington recalled Lucas Johansen from Hershey of the American Hockey League to take Carlson’s roster spot. Johansen has no points in two NHL games this season, and two points (one goal, one assist) in 13 AHL games.
Defenseman Alexander Alekseyev is expected to take Carlson’s place against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 pm ET; TVAS, MSG2, NBCSWA+, ESPN+, SN NOW). It’ll be Alekseyev’s first game since Dec. 9; he has one assist in five games.
Capitals forward Marcus Johansson will replace Carlson on the first power play-unit. Carlson had been playing down low in a forward position on the power play.
“He’s an important guy,” Laviolette said of Carlson. “With that, as it has been really all year, comes opportunity. Other guys will step up and that’s how we’ve done it the entire year. We’ve needed guys to step up and fill shoes, fill minutes. It’s no different here with John. Certainly an important player, but we talked about it this morning, our guys have to be ready for this challenge to get more, to do more and just keep things moving.”
The Capitals have already been playing without a defenseman Martin Fehervary (upper body), and forwards Nicklas Backstrom (hip), TJ Oshie (upper body), Tom Wilson (ACL), Connor Brown (ACL), Carl Hagelin (hip) and Beck Malenstyn (upper body).
Malenstyn is with the Capitals in New York. Laviolette said other injured players were skating at their practice facility in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday.
“There are some guys that are on the cusp,” Laviolette said.
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report
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