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Holtby won’t return to Capitals game after high stick to eye

holtbyeye

Plenty of eyes are on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ net on Saturday, yet it’s the Washington Capitals who are suddenly dealing with bigger goalie concerns.

The team announced that Braden Holtby will not return to that game after Cam Atkinson’s high stick caught Holtby in his eye despite his goalie mask. The Capitals didn’t provide any other information regarding Holtby’s status, beyond that he continues to be evaluated.

NBC Sports Washington has footage of that unlucky moment:

Holtby is a crucial workhorse for the Capitals, so this is obviously worrisome. To state the obvious, vision is crucial for a goalie. (Holtby’s also been borderline meme-worthy when it comes to preparing for games by getting on the ice and running through rapid-eye movements.)

This wasn’t the only injury scare for Washington, as Alex Ovechkin missed some time earlier in the contest. He appears to be OK, which isn’t surprising because Ovechkin sometimes seems borderline-indestructible. It’s something to monitor, at least, because there are moments where a player will ride the adrenaline of a game to its conclusion, only to realize that an injury was more serious than expected.

On the bright side, Pheonix Copley has played pretty well for Washington this season, so maybe he can hold down the fort.

The Blue Jackets decided to start Joonas Korpisalo instead of Sergei Bobrovsky in this game, drawing jeers about possibly not moving on. Then again, Korpi won his last start, so maybe John Tortorella is merely riding the hot hand?

Also of note: Markus Nutivaara made an outstanding breakout pass to set up this Cam Atkinson goal:

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a late 1-1 goal to send the game into overtime, but Artemi Panarin ripped a power-play one-timer by Copley to give Columbus a 2-1 OT win. So a small winning streak for Korpisalo, but one would think that Bob will close off the Blue Jackets’ back-to-back against the Rangers on Sunday.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.