Closing out a five game road trip that saw the club go 1-3-1, including losing the last three in a row, Washington suffered their biggest blow last night in Minnesota, losing three more players in a 4-3 loss.
Jeff Schultz, Boyd Gordon and John Erskine all left the game due to injuries. Schultz suffers from the most serious ailment, breaking a finger which will sideline him for 4-6 weeks.
Gordon and Erskine are now both listed as day-to-day, joining fellow teammates Mike Green, Alexander Semin, and Sergei Fedorov.
Both Green and Semin should be ready to return to the line-up for either Wednesday or Friday's games, while Fedorov is still uncertain.
The loss of Schultz is particularly concerning, given the total lack of cap space and healthy defenders. It is rumored that he will be placed on LTIR (Long Term Injury Reserve) where he will join Brian Pothier who is suffering a career threatening concussion.
Being placed on the LTIR would mean that Schultz must remain out of the line-up for both 24 days and 10 games, slating his return for late December.
It is likely that Erskine will play through his soreness as Sami Lepisto is the likely candidate to be called up from Hershey to fill in for Schultz.
The Capitals now return home to face the Atlanta Thrashers in the hopes of breaking a three game regulation losing streak, the longest in Bruce Boudreau's tenure as coach.
More information on the Capitals injury bug can be followed on Tarik El-Bashir's blog, an excellent source for up to date team news.
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