Washington Capitals place Anthony Mantha on IR, recall Aliaksei Protas

The injury concerns are growing for the Washington Capitals. After just getting Nic Dowd back, Anthony Mantha left last night’s game with an upper body injury. The Caps had just sent Aliaksei Protas down to the Hershey Bears but now he heads back to the Caps. It’s bad enough the Caps are without Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie but now Mantha has been added to the injured list.

Mantha was not on the ice in the third period and that’s when the Caps announced the injury and that he wouldn’t return. While the Caps were on the power play, Mantha and John Carlson had a collision. He finished that shift but missed the final 13 and a half minutes of the second period.

Prior to the collision, Mantha had a nice assist 43 seconds into the second period that set up a breakaway gaol from Daniel Sprong. In 10 games this season he has two goals and four assists for six points.

Protas made his NHL debut Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning and prior to his initial recall on Nov. 1, Protas had four points with a goal and three assists in six games with the Hershey Bears.

Protas was sent back to Hershey just a day ago when Nic Dowd was activated into the lineup. Now he’s back as another injury happened. Nicklas Backstrom should hopefully be back soon. As for Oshie and Mantha, there’s no telling when they’ll be back. Head coach Peter Laviolette may have no choice but to play the youngsters now.

Mantha was traded to the Capitals from the Detroit Red Wings as the Caps traded away Jakub Vrana last season at the trade deadline. Mantha would then score a goal in his first four Capitals games. He’s contributed and brought size to the top six and we wish him a speedy recovery. It may take time though, the team did announce at practice that he had surgery on his shoulder and is out indefinitely.