The Washington Capitals were already without one regular defenseman due to injury. During the team’s first playoff practice, they had to go without another.
Jakob Chychrun left the Capital One Arena ice on Saturday morning to get repairs after being struck in the face by a deflected puck.
According to RMNB’s Katie Adler, Chychrun immediately clutched his face and went right down the tunnel for repairs. There was no visible blood. The incident occurred with a little over 10 minutes left in practice and the rearguard did not return.
The Capitals confirmed after the skate Chychrun was struck in the face, but was fine and would not miss any time.
Chychrun, who scored 20 goals in 74 games this season, skated on the first defense pairing with John Carlson during line rushes. He missed three of the Capitals’ last five games, all due to illness (?) and rest-related reasons.
Chychrun’s unlucky moment follows some bad puck luck, in a literal sense, for the Capitals down the stretch. The team was without starting goaltender Logan Thompson for most of April due to an upper-body injury, presumably due to taking a shot off the mask against the Carolina Hurricanes. During the season, Martin Fehervary, Dylan Strome, and Tom Wilson each suffered multiple injuries to the face. Wilson’s most severe facial injury this season, coincidentally, came when he took a shot off the stick from Chychrun, briefly earning the nickname “Quagmire” from his teammates because his cheek swelled up to the size of an orange.
