Capitals' Carlson being evaluated after taking high hit from Guentzel

Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson is being evaluated after taking a high hit from Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel in Game 5 on Saturday night.

Capitals head coach Barry Trotz was not pleased.

"John took a high hit. He was unsuspecting, with about a minute left. He's being evaluated right now," he said, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "I know the standard's been set, so I'm going to leave it up the league. It was a head shot in my opinion."

Here's a look at the hit:

Here is the video of the hit on Carlson @ianoland @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/38K6nyIZCD

- Domenic Allegra #ButlerDidIt (@DomenicAllegra) May 6, 2018

Carlson is the Capitals' top blue-liner, so any time missed would be detrimental to the team's chances of moving on. This is especially true considering Tom Wilson is still suspended for one more game, Andre Burakovsky hasn't played since Game 2 of the first round, and Nicklas Backstrom left Game 5 with an upper-body injury.

On the flip side, Guentzel has 10 goals and 21 points this postseason, so if he were to be suspended, the Penguins would be missing an irreplaceable piece of their offense.

Game 6 is set for Monday night in Pittsburgh, as Washington holds a 3-2 series lead.

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