Sandis Vilmanis left the Florida Panthers’ 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon after taking an undisclosed injury in the first period and did not return.
The play happened at Capital One Arena after Vilmanis cleared the puck out of the zone and was then sent into the boards by Capitals forward Tom Wilson. Vilmanis appeared to go into the boards head-first on the hit, was checked by a trainer, and then headed to the locker room.
Wilson was given five minutes for boarding and a game misconduct after a quick review by the officials, and he was ejected from the game. He has previously been suspended six times by the NHL Department of Player Safety.
“He’ll get looked at by another doctor tomorrow, but probably have to wait to get him back to see our guys [in Florida] before we have a real good idea,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice told reporters after the game.
“That’s an unfortunate hit,” Panthers forward Cole Reinhardt said.
Maurice also made it clear the Panthers weren’t going to weigh in on any possible further punishment. “I’ll leave that to the Department of Player Safety,” Maurice said. “That’s their job.”
Vilmanis had just come off a career-high four-point night - 2G, 2A - in Florida’s 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. He made his NHL debut and played in 19 games in 2025-26, and he has already set a new career high this season with seven points, including three goals and four assists.
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