Following the Washington Capitals’ Game 5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz revealed defenseman John Carlson was being evaluated after he took a high hit from Penguins forward Jake Guentzel.
“John took a high hit. He was unsuspecting with about a minute left,” Trotz said per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. “He’s being evaluated right now. I know the standard’s been set, so I’m going to leave it up to the league. It was a head shot in my opinion.”
The hit on Carlson will certainly draw controversy after Capitals forward Tom Wilson was suspended three games following a hit on Zach Aston-Reese in Game 3.
Here is the video of the hit on Carlson @ianoland @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/38K6nyIZCD
— Domenic Allegra (@DomenicAllegra) May 6, 2018
Carlson is Washington’s top blue-liner. Losing him for any amount of time would be a serious blow for Washington. In 11 playoff games, Carlson has three goals and eight assists with a plus-4 rating. They are already without Wilson for one more game. Forward Andre Burakovsky has been out with an injury since Game 2 in the first round against Columbus.
For Pittsburgh, a suspension would be devastating, as Guentzel leads the NHL in points (21), goals (10), and plus/minus rating (+10) during the playoffs.
