Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson was discharged from the hospital Saturday and will be out indefinitely after he took a puck to the face during Friday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The frightening injury occurred 55 seconds into the third period, when a slap shot from Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon hit Carlson up high. Carlson immediately fell to the ice, bleeding profusely. Carlson skated to the locker room with a towel pressed to his face. He was then transported to the hospital for \u201cprecautionary evaluation,\u201d Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said after the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Washington’s next game is Tuesday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt sucks that Carly get hurt, and the whole third period I think the boys were thinking about him and how he’s doing, but I hope he’s all right,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cI don’t know what’s happening right now, but all our minds right now are with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Carlson has eight goals and 13 assists and is averaging a team-high 23:24 of ice time in 30 games. If Martin Fehervary, who is dealing with an upper-body injury that the team is calling day-to-day, is not healthy enough to play Tuesday, Alex Alexeyev could replace Carlson in the lineup. Alexeyev was recently activated off injured reserve after he took a high hit Dec. 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Carlson’s injury is the latest the team has been forced to cope with this season. The injury list includes TJ Oshie (upper body, day-to-day), Fehervary, Beck Malenstyn (broken finger), Tom Wilson (ACL, indefinitely) and Nicklas Backstrom (hip, indefinitely).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson was discharged from the hospital Saturday and will be out indefinitely after he took a puck to the face during Friday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets. The frightening injury occurred 55 seconds into the third period, when a slap shot from Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon hit Carlson up high. Carlson immediately …<\/p>\n