Washington Capitals’ Nic Dowd leaves game vs. New York Islanders early with lower-body injury

The Washington Capitals announced that center Nic Dowd will not be returning to Monday night’s game against the New York Islanders after sustaining a lower-body injury.

Dowd left the game early in the first period after taking a hit from Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck along the boards. It’s unclear at the moment as to how severe the injury is, the specifics of it or how long it will keep Dowd out of the lineup.

Dowd had just 57 seconds of ice time before he was forced out of the game in his second shift, and he had a relatively uneventful game with just a couple shot attempts against, a faceoff loss, and a hit taken, which is what caused the injury. Since Dowd was on the fourth line, he hasn’t necessarily been replaced on his line so much as the Caps have been rotating players in that spot for extra shifts, most notably Alex Ovechkin.

If this injury keeps Dowd out for a significant portion of time, it will be a big blow to what has been a career year for the center. His 10 goals are just one away from tying his career high of 11 set in 2020-21, and that along with his nine assists puts him at 19 points, which is five short of his career high of 24 set in 2021-22, all in just 43 games.

A seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 2009, Dowd joined the Capitals as an unrestricted free agent shortly after they won their first Stanley Cup in 2018. He’s currently in the first season of a three-year contract with a $1.3 million cap hit, a deal he signed early in the 2021-22 season.

While the Caps have certainly gotten healthier in recent weeks with the returns of Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom, Dowd joins John Carlson, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin on the shelf. Despite all the man games lost, the Capitals sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a 23-16-6 record and have the first wildcard spot.