Laviolette Addresses Alexeyev Injury, Oleksiak To Have Hearing

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals saw yet another player go down with injury on Friday, as Alex Alexeyev left the team’s tilt with the Seattle Kraken after taking a nasty elbow to the head from Jamie Oleksiak.

Head coach Peter Laviolette provided an update on the 23-year-old blueliner postgame and said it was a good sign to see him.

“I saw him after the game. We’ll evaluate him in the morning and go from there,” Laviolette said. “We talked with him after the game. It was nice to see him. He’s come in, he’s given us some good minutes, he’s had a tough go with the injury and training camp not being the way he wanted from the injury and eventually get going down in Hershey, making his way back up here.  He’s given us some quality minutes. We’re just banged up a little bit and you need people to step up and step in. He’s done that, but it’s always nice to get your first point in the NHL.”

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With Alexeyev hurt, Washington is now down three defensemen, and the Russian was one of the fill-ins for Martin Fehervary and Dmitry Orlov. Fehervary is day-to-day and on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury he suffered in Calgary. Orlov is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and remains on the IR as well. He has missed the last 15 games.

“It’s been one of those years. It’s not like we went a man down, and we’re trying to figure out what to do,” Laviolette said. “The guys have responded to a little bit of adversity the entire season. So it was nice to see them pick that up.”

Before leaving the game, Alexeyev recorded an assist on Anthony Mantha’s second-period goal for his first NHL point. He did not return to action after the hit from Oleksiak. Oleksiak received a match penalty and has a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Saturday. The Capitals beat the Kraken 4-1 in a hard-earned win.