Photo credit: Joel Auerbach

He’s been on the ice for less than 20 minutes in a Washington sweater, but the Capitals are once again without Martin Erat. In the latter half of an otherwise boring first period in Sunrise, the Panthers’ Erik Gudbranson decided to liven things up with a dirty hit on Washington’s new forward.

In a textbook example of boarding, Gudbranson shoved Erat right in the numbers and into the wall. Erat went awkwardly into the dashers, with his legs splitting apart as he contacted the boards. Unsurprising, the Caps reported Erat suffered a lower-body injury. Gudbranson got five minutes and a game misconduct for his handy work and might get himself a Shanaban.

With Brooks Laich going down too, the Caps have some big holes at left wing at the moment.

Per The Washington Post‘s Katie Carrera, Caps head coach Adam Oates said it’s “really hard to tell” how bad the injury is at this point and the team will reassess Erat in the morning. Let’s hope it’s not too bad.