Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson scores, leaves Game 1 victory with lower-body injury

Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is being evaluated after suffering a lower-body injury in Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Florida Panthers.

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 No. 8 seed Capitals carried on without their agitator, leveraging that early lead from Wilson to top the Presidents Trophy-winning Panthers, 4-2. They'll take a 1-0 series lead into Thursday's Game 2.

Whether Wilson will be a part of that matchup remains to be seen. Capitals' coach Peter Laviolette shared a minimal update on Wilson's status post-game, other than to say he was being minded by the team's medical staff and the club would potentially know more on Wednesday. Laviolette also wasn't clear on how exactly 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 18:35 per game.

Capitals defenseman John Carlson also left Tuesday's game early, following a high hit by Panthers' forward Sam Bennett. There was no update available immediately on his status.