Former first round pick suffers injury after taking puck to the ear

Washington Captials winger Anthony Mantha is having a tough 2023-24 season so far. Going into the game against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night, Mantha only had two points on the season. His play has been so bad he was even a healthy scratch in the second game of the new season.

Mantha was in the midst of his best game of the season after scoring two goals earlier in the game but unfortunately his evening would end early.

With 7:47 remaining in the third period of a 3-3 game, Mantha was struck by an Evgeny Kuznetsov wrist shotramped up off of defender Mike Reilly's stick. The puck hit Mantha in the left side of his head near his ear.




Kuznetsov and linemate Aliaksei Protas helped Mantha make his way off the ice as he had a towel pressed against his face.

The game would need overtime with the Panthers scoring fifteen seconds into the extra period to take the two points with a 4-3 victory.

The play on Mantha was an eerie reminder to fans of the incident that cost John Carlson almost half the year last season. Carlson took a slap shot up high that fractured his skull and severed his temporal artery during a game against the Winnipeg Jets. The veteran blueliner now wears extra ear protection on that side of his helmet to try and prevent any future injury.


After the game the Capitals announced Mantha suffered a suffered an «upper-body injury« and would be reevaluated on Thursday.

Washington now goes on the road to play back to back games on Friday and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.