Capitals defenceman Brooks Orpik reached out to Roman Polak on Monday to see how the Leafs’ defenceman was doing.

It was Orpik’s hit — a good clean one — in Game 2 that resulted in Polak’s season ending prematurely with an awkward fall that severely twisted his right foot.

“I just reached out to him and told him good luck with the recovery,” said Orpik. “You try to wear guys down during a series and hope they’re a little sore from the physical contact, but you don’t ever wish an injury on somebody.”

In the Washington room, Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Oshie (both with the Blues) and Daniel Winnik (with the Leafs) told Orpik what a good teammate Polak was.

“I’ve heard nothing but good things about him as a teammate and as a guy. It sucks missing games at any point in the season,” said Orpik. “But you play 82 games to set yourself up to play in the playoffs. . . . These are the games you really look forward to and that’s obviously disappointing not to be able to play. I missed a few with a concussion last year and you feel you are letting people down, no matter if it’s in your control or not.”

Orpik said the foot-twisting replay was hard on the eyes.

“When I saw him down, based on the hit, I thought maybe it was his shoulder or I knocked the wind out of him,” said Orpik. “But a guy as tough as him, when you see him on the ice ... I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him stay down. When you see that, especially so close to the (Leaf) bench, you know something is probably not right.

“Unfortunately yes (Orpik saw the replay). It was tough to watch.”

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