Capitals’ Anthony Mantha day-to-day after taking puck to ear

Mantha, 29, will reportedly not travel with the Caps on their trip to New Jersey and Long Island, but the injury will be handled on a day-to-day basis, and there’s little concern that he’ll be out for a lengthy period. He suffered the injury midway through the third period of Wednesday’s game after Evgeny Kuznetsov fired a shot and the puck deflected off of Mike Reilly’s stick and struck Mantha in the face.

Mantha was off to a solid start to the season with three goals and one assist for four points in 10 games, including two during Wednesday’s game against the Panthers. He was on pace for 32 points based off of that start, which would be his highest point total since the 2019-20 season. Mantha has dealt with injuries throughout his career. He’s only played more than 70 games in a season once in his career.

Trevor van Riemsdyk, 32, also won’t be travelling on the trip with the team, as he is still day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Wednesday’s game was the first he’d missed with the injury, so he’s due to miss a few more before returning to the lineup. He has one assist so far in 10 games this season.

Joel Edmundson, 30, is another player who won’t be travelling with the team, as he’s still recovering from a hand injury that he suffered during training camp. He was in a non-contact jersey during an optional morning skate on Wednesday, so he’s close to returning, but he still needs some time to fully heal. He has yet to play a game for the Capitals after they acquired him from the Montreal Canadiens in the offseason.

Nic Dowd, 33, was also in a non-contact jersey during Wednesday’s optional skate, but he may join the Capitals on their road trip. He hasn’t played since suffering his upper-body injury during the Caps second game of the season against the Calgary Flames. He has no points in the two games he has played this year.