The Washington Capitals lost Nic Dowd several minutes into its game against the New York Islanders.

The fourth-line center was injured during his second shift of the game after absorbing a big hit from Cal Clutterbuck. Dowd was clearing the puck out of the Capitals’ zone near the team’s bench. It cut his second shift short to 15 seconds.

“That (hit) jammed him between his two legs,” Craig Laughlin said while NBC Sports Washington showed a replay. “He went hard into the boards.”

Dowd was seen on the telecast crawling to the bench. He used the concrete walls of the tunnel to help himself down the hallway to the locker room.

A few minutes later, Dowd would return after the first TV timeout. He took one swirl around the ice before deciding to leave the game permanently.

The Capitals officially announced he would not return during the first intermission.

INJURY UPDATE: #Caps Nic Dowd sustained a lower body injury and will not return to tonight’s game.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 17, 2023

Dowd’s night ended after 57 seconds of total ice time.

During the first intermission, NBC Sports Washington’s Alan May speculated it could be a knee injury.

Dowd being out for the remainder of the game will be an issue for a Capitals team that is going more offensive against the Isles tonight. Lars Eller was scratched in favor of Dylan Strome leaving the team without a center that’s defense-first and good in the faceoff dot.

Evgeny Kuznetsov was promoted to the Capitals’ first unit penalty kill. He got the first and last shift during their first PK of the night on a TJ Oshie interference penalty.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB