The Washington Capitals got some bad news before puck drop Sunday. Defenseman John Carlson entered COVID protocol as the Caps took the ice for warmups.

Nick Jensen will take Carlson’s spot on the first pairing with Martin Fehervary. Meanwhile, Dmitry Orlov will skate with Trevor van Riemsdyk and Matt Irwin will be paired with Justin Schultz.

Schultz will quarterback the Capitals’ power play.

#Caps John Carlson is unavailable due to the NHL COVID protocol.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 16, 2022

Carlson was initially a question mark for Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders as he missed the start of warmups to get test results back for COVID-19. After having a false positive, Carlson appears to have then tested negative. This allowed him to return for the last half of warmups, setting in motion the below ridiculous video, and play in the game against the Isles.

carly with a most grand entrance pic.twitter.com/LXgNbUpDAU

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 15, 2022

Carlson ended up receiving 23:48 of ice time in the Capitals’ 2-0 shutout win.

Carlson is the Caps’ leading minutes eater, skating an average of 23:43 of ice time per game. He’s also their leading scorer from the backend with 32 points (8g, 24a) in 28 games.

With Carlson now missing against the Canucks, Alex Ovechkin will become the sole Capitals player this season to play in all 39 games.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB