Dowd Leaves Capitals-Islanders Early With Injury, Won’t Return

Washington Capitals forward Nic Dowd left action early in the opening minutes of Monday's contest against the New York Islanders with an apparent injury.

Dowd had the puck along the boards and made a pass up ice and took a hard hit along the boards by the benches from Cal Clutterbuck and appeared to take the brunt of the hit to his left hip/upper left leg. He went down in visible discomfort and crawled to the bench before making his way slowly to the tunnel.

It's unclear what the nature of the injury is at this time. However, per the broadcast, Dowd skated very shortly during the TV timeout but quickly went back down the tunnel with trainers.

The 33-year-old has points in four of his last six games and has been a vital part of the team's lineup this season. He is one goal away from matching his career high of 11 goals, and he is on pace for a career year to boot. He started the game on the fourth line with Marcus Johansson and Garnet Hathaway.

Backstrom is currently subbing in for Dowd on that fourth line with the Capitals having just three other centers in the lineup.

Dowd is one of five pivots in the mix for Washington, who is working with 14 available forwards following the returns of Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson.

Lars Eller is the odd man out against New York. Eller is a healthy scratch as the team continues to look for the perfect line combinations. Eller could return to action on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild if Dowd isn't available for the second half of the back-to-back series.