RALEIGH, N.C. — The Nashville Predators‘ injury bug now has hit captain Roman Josi, who is week to week with an upper-body injury after being placed on the injured reserve list.
The Predators announced the update on their defenseman Tuesday shortly before a game at Carolina.
Josi took a high stick from Denis Gurianov Dallas 2:46 into the third period that drew blood on Josi’s face. Josi stayed in the game and scored the winning goal Sunday night in a 4-3 shootout victory in Dallas.
Josi becomes the fourth Nashville player on injured reserve within the past week. Nashville put defenseman Ryan Ellis on the list for up to six weeks with an upper-body injury on March 2, the same day the Predators put forward Luke Kunin on it for two to four weeks with a lower-body injury.
Goalie Juuse Saros was put on injured reserve March 4 with an upper-body injury, then forward Matt Duchene went on it March 6 with a lower-body injury that is expected to sideline the veteran center for three to five weeks.
The Predators also recalled forwards Mathieu Olivier and Rem Pitlick and defenseman Jeremy Davies from the taxi squad.
Long before the injury run, Nashville had been struggling on the ice. The Predators enter play Tuesday night with just 22 points in 25 games, and were nine points out of the final playoff berth in the Central Division.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.