Breaking down the latest on Beck Malenstyn’s injury

The Washington Capitals announced the severity of Beck Malenstyn’s injury that he suffered on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Capitals PR said that he “underwent a surgical procedure to stabilize a finger fracture on his left hand. Based on the nature of this procedure, Malenstyn is expected to miss six to eight weeks.”

The 24 year old had a role on the Capitals fourth line with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway. He recorded one goal and one assist in five games. During his 42 minutes of five on five play, Caps opponents only scored one goal while Malenstyn was on the ice.

The injury came from Malenstyn blocking a shot on November 1 from Nicolas Hague of the Vegas Golden Knights. He favored his hand and did not return to the game.

The Caps called up Malenstyn from the Hershey Bears following Connor Brown’s season ending torn ACL injury. Brown was supposed to fix the right side of the Caps lineup as Tom Wilson is recovering from his ACL injury.

This week the Capitals called up Sonny Milano and Garrett Pilon. Expect those guys and possibly Connor McMichael to play more following this news.

Six to eight weeks is pretty bad but it certainly could be a lot worse. Malenstyn will be missed in both the Caps lineup and the Bears lineup.

It seems like this team can’t seem to catch a break as they have lost three games in a row. That included last night’s regulation debacle against the Detroit Red Wings, and two straight overtime losses where they at least came away with a point.

Is it time to panic about the Capitals? Not quite yet. But they better fix things soon. It won’t get any easier and injuries only makes the daunting task all the more worse. Prayers up.