WASHINGTON 鈥� John Carlson鈥檚 ironman streak has ended at 412 consecutive games, as the Washington Capitals鈥� defenseman missed Monday鈥檚 game in Buffalo with a lower-body injury.
Carlson 鈥済ot twisted up a little bit鈥� in Saturday鈥檚 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens, according to head coach Barry Trotz, and did not practice with the team on Sunday. At Monday鈥檚 morning skate, Carlson briefly skated with his teammates before departing early, according to Monumental Network鈥檚 Mike Vogel.
are on the ice for morning skate in Buffalo. John Carlson came out briefly, skated gingerly for about two minutes, then departed.
鈥� Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps)
Carlson ranked second in Capitals history with 412 consecutive games played and was just 10 games shy of matching Bob Carpenter鈥檚 franchise mark of 422.
Since Carlson is out of the running, Karl Alzner now has Washington鈥檚 longest active ironman streak, having appeared in 411 consecutive games since the start of the 2010-11 season.
鈥淲hen you play that many minutes,鈥� Barry Trotz said earlier this month, 鈥渟omething is going to go wrong 鈥� someone is going to chop you or you鈥檒l get hit with a puck blocking a shot or just illness, catching the odd flu. So from that standpoint [the ironman streak] is pretty impressive in this day and age because the game is played very fast and especially for the defensemen who are going back to retrieve pucks, they鈥檙e the guys who take a lot of the hits.鈥�
Carlson leads the Capitals in ice-time this season, playing an average of 24:48 per game, and he leads all Washington defensemen with six goals and 27 points.
Before Monday鈥檚 game in Buffalo, the Capitals last played without Carlson in the lineup on April 6, 2010. The Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 that night with the club鈥檚 six defensemen consisted of Joe Corvo, John Erskine, Shaone Morrisonn, Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz and Tyler Sloan.
With Carlson out, defenseman Connor Carrick made his 2015-16 NHL debut Monday in Buffalo. Carrick had a goal and six points in 34 NHL games in 2013-14.
