Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby left Saturday night’s 2-1 extra minutes misfortune to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second time frame in the wake of taking a stick to the face.
The stick of Cam Atkinson slid through the goalie cover as Holtby raised it to get ready to divert a potential shot, and the stick seemed to reach Holtby close to his eyes.
Holtby was treated on the seat before heading to the locker room. The Capitals reported amid the second intermission that he would not come back to the game.
Mentor Todd Reirden was “very concerned” and stayed indeterminate about Holtby’s status a while later.
“He’ll be getting evaluated later tonight still,” Reirden said. “Our initial discussions with our trainer and doctors, that’s a serious thing. He wasn’t able to return to the game, and we’ll get some more evaluation tonight and know a little bit more tomorrow and have a better update for you guys then.”
Pheonix Copley replaced Holtby in net and stopped the first 10 shots he looked previously permitting a power-play goal to Artemi Panarin 3:30 into additional time.
Atkinson, who scored prior in the game, got a two-minute penalty for high sticking.
The Capitals had just gotten a scare when Alex Ovechkin left the game in the primary time frame, yet the NHL’s driving objective scorer returned for the second. Reirden said Ovechkin required medicinal consideration regarding close a cut on one of his hands.
The Associated Press added to this report.
