📸: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
The Washington Capitals saw Justin Sourdif forced out of Sunday’s game against the Nashville Predators during the second period.
Sourdif was hurt with 18:30 remaining in the second frame and the Capitals on a power play. As the rookie center raced to try to keep the Caps in the offensive zone, Predators forward Fedor Svechkov chopped the puck towards Sourdif. The puck ramped up off of Sourdif’s stick blade and directly into his face.
The 23-year-old forward grabbed for his face and made his way off the ice. Once back at the bench, he immediately went down the tunnel with members of the team’s training staff.
Sourdif did not return for the rest of the second period. During the second intermission, the Capitals announced that Sourdif would not be back for the third period due to an upper-body injury.
When he left the ice, Sourdif had played just 6:16 of ice time. Sourdif’s face was already sore coming into the game after he was bloodied by a collision in practice with Connor McMichael earlier this week.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps forward Justin Sourdif (upper body) will not return to tonight’s game.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) January 12, 2026
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery had no update on Sourdif’s status postgame. “I’ll talk to Serbs (head athletic trainer Jason Serbus) and see where he’s at, but he did not return tonight, obviously,” Carbery said.
Sourdif has been one of the Capitals’ top players in January, posting eight points (4g, 4a) in five games coming into the game in Nashville. He scored one of the team’s five goals against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
The Capitals were already missing Tom Wilson (lower-body injury) and Jakob Chychrun (illness) against the Predators. With Sourdif out, head coach Spencer Carbery moved Connor McMichael back down the middle on the second line.