Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson will not play in Thursday’s Game 2 against the Florida Panthers because of a lower-body injury suffered in the first game of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Coach Peter Laviolette made the announcement, saying that Wilson is day-to-day.
Wilson put Washington on the board Tuesday with a first-period goal before leaving the game shortly after. He returned briefly during a TV timeout to take a few laps around the ice and then departed again for good with a member of the training staff.
The eighth-seeded Capitals still beat the Panthers 4-2 at home.
On Tuesday, Laviolette said he wasn’t sure exactly how Wilson was hurt, theorizing that it might have been when he tried to check Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and ended up going hard into the boards.
Losing Wilson for any length of time would be a tough blow to Washington. The winger scored 24 goals and 52 points in the regular season while averaging 18 minutes, 35 seconds of playing time.
Information from ESPN’s Kristen Shilton was used in this report.