The Washington Capitals will be playing a man short on their bench for the rest of the game after losing Anthony Mantha to injury.

The Capitals announced the news in the middle of the second period.

INJURY UPDATE: #Caps Anthony Mantha sustained an upper body injury and will not return to tonight’s game.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 22, 2023

Mantha played 8:18, recording two shots on goal. He was skating on the first line with Dylan Strome and TJ Oshie.

Mantha left the ice for the last time 7:20 into the second period.

It’s unclear if Mantha got injured in the game or if something lingering was bothering him. Mantha was one of the most physical Capitals players in Saturday’s Stadium Series game, dropping the gloves with Jordan Martinook.

Mantha has played in 54 of 59 games this season registering nine goals and 24 points. Mantha saw his playing time cut and became an off-and-on healthy scratch in January when Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson returned from offseason surgeries.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB