Michal Neuvirth’s leg injury: Washington Capitals lose two goaltenders to injury in a week-NHL News
A week after the Washington Capitals lost their veteran netminder, Tomas Vokoun, to a groin injury, the team received further setback when the replacement goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, had to leave the ice during the game against the Florida Panthers with
a leg injury on Thursday, April 05, 2012.
Neuvirth was injured in the second period of the game when Florida Panthers’ forward, Marco Sturm, fell on his leg during a play.
He came down on the ice in his crease with the fall of the player and could not manage to get up on his feet again. He was left there for a while before being helped by the team’s trainers and staff to the sidelines.
The goaltender later was helped to the team’s dressing room without any further details around his injury. He did not return to ice for the rest of the game.
He is expected to miss quite few games due to the injury. Since the nature of the injury is not confirmed, it remains difficult to know an exact timeline of his recovery and return to the squad.
Rookie, Braden Holtby, replaced Neuvirth for the rest of the game. He became the third goaltender for the team in the period of about a week.
With Capitals through to the playoffs, Neuvirth’s injury does not bode well with their ambitions of the second round.
However, they have good news from the front of Vokoun that he is going to rejoin the squad in the second round.
With the regular season almost finished, Capitals are heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs and fitness of their main players stands crucial to their victory chances.
The management has not disclosed anything around Vokun’s latest injury status, but a couple of media reports have set the second round as the possible phase of his return.
The next couple of days are expected to clear the situation around Neuvirth’s injury and possible timeline for his comeback.
Unfortunate for him that he received the setback into very first week of his presence in front of the net, following ousting of Vokun due to the groin problem.
If he is unable to get fit again before the end of the playoffs, the 2011-2012 NHL season is certainly over for him. In that case, he will have a plenty of time to focus on his long-term health and fitness prospects.
In the second round, which is going to be competitive phase of the season, the Washington Capitals might not be able to sustain for a considerable amount of time.
They had made it through to the playoffs in very difficult circumstances, after being pushed to the edge by the Buffalo Sabres’ strong comeback into later part of the regular season.
Both teams were tied with 81 points at the end, but since Capitals had the tiebreaker advantage they were through successfully.
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