Nick Jensen was taken from the ice on a stretcher in the first period for the Washington Capitals in their 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena on Saturday.
Jensen was hit hard into the boards at center ice by Lightning forward Michael Eyssimont as he attempted to dump the puck in the offensive zone at 18:29. No penalty was assessed to Eyssimont on the play.
“Scary situation. He’s doing better, though, than -- initially when you see something like that, someone stretchered off, you’re thinking the worst-case situations," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said after the game. "He’s doing better. He walked out of the building with his family tonight. Didn’t go to the hospital. That was very, very positive, thinking that other situations [could’ve happened]. That’s good. Obviously, he’s going to be out, but good that he was able to walk out of the building with his family. That was good.
"And also, too, I want to just quickly say from a medical staff standpoint, not only from 'Serbs' (head athletic trainer Jason Serbus) and the on-ice, but the off-ice, how quickly that happened and they were able to get out there, Dr. Liz (Elizabeth Delasobera). They were just so, it looked like, dialed in with everything that was going on. It was really impressive to see that and for help to be there so quickly for 'Jens' in that situation.”
Jensen received treatment on the ice for about five minutes before he was stretchered off. The officials then had both teams head to the locker rooms, with the remaining 1:31 of the first period to be played after the intermission.
Carbery said Sunday that Jensen will not play in either of Washington's final two regular-season games. Defenseman Dylan McIlrath has been recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League.
“He was in the facility today, so that was positive,” Carbery said. “Really good to see him able to leave and not have to go to the hospital and was able to go home and stay at his house last night. Everything was good from that standpoint.”
Jensen has 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) in 77 games this season for the Capitals (38-31-11), who hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Washington hosts the Boston Bruins on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, NHLN, NESN).
“Yeah, it’s tough to see anybody, but he’s a special kid for me," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who coached Jensen with Green Bay of the United States Hockey League. "We won a championship in the USHL together. He’s awesome. Those are tough ones to see, especially because of the result of the hit and it wasn’t penalized, nor should it have been. It was just a tough one all the way around. I’m hoping he’s OK. I heard he’s doing OK, and so hopefully he’s not out after tonight.”
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report
