#lower-body-injury

#lower-body-injury

You just rarely see it, and so for him, something definitely went wrong,

John Carlson played just one period for the Washington Capitals against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Carlson took nine shifts in the first period but didn't take the ice again once the second period began. Midway through the frame, the Capitals announced that Carlson suffered a lower-body injury and would not return to the game. INJURY UPDATE: #Caps defenseman John Carlson (lower body) will not return to tonight's game.

Sandin was hurt with just 19 seconds remaining in the first frame, absorbing a hit from Oilers forward Curtis Lazar against the boards. After getting up slowly, Sandin got back into position and made a big shot block on defender Ty Emberson with the inside of his leg. The 25-year-old Swede needed assistance to get back to the team's bench once the horn sounded to end the period.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left Wednesday's game against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period with a lower-body injury, and will not return. Ekman-Larsson went to the dressing room midway through the frame. It appeared that Ekman-Larsson sustained an injury after getting tangled up with Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond. Here is a video of the incident:

Maple Leafs F Nick Robertson will not return to tonight's game (lower body).- Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) January 13, 2026 Waiting on the severity of the injury There was no immediate update on Robertson from Craig Berube following the game, as they will need to take a closer look to examine the injury. If Robertson's set to miss time with the Maple Leafs, this could be a crucial injury coming at a very important stretch of their schedule.

Eriks Mateiko received one of the biggest honors of his career last week when he was named to Latvia's Olympic hockey team. Days later, though, Mateiko suffered a scary injury during Hershey's 3-2 overtime loss Sunday to the Cleveland Monsters, and it's unclear if it will impact his trip to Italy in February. The Capitals prospect was injured and helped off the ice with 11:19 remaining in the second period after having an incident along the sideboards with Monsters defenseman Corson Ceulmans.

The timing could hardly have been worse. With the game already decided and the Islanders searching for answers after a lopsided defeat, the sight of their leading scorer limping to the locker room cast a shadow over everything else. Horvat had only recently returned from a five-game absence in December due to a lower-body injury, raising immediate concern about whether this was a recurrence or something new entirely.