The Washington Capitals announced on Sunday that both veteran forwards TJ Oshie (upper-body) and Nic Dowd (lower-body) are day-to-day with injuries.
Oshie left Saturday’s victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs early after pulling up lame on a backcheck. Dowd missed the game entirely.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reported the combined news.
Oshie and Dowd will not practice Sunday. They are day-to-day, per the #Caps.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) December 18, 2022
This is already the second time this season that Oshie has had a noticeable non-contact injury. His first one kept him out of the lineup for eleven games.
“I think because of the history there’s always a concern,” Caps head coach Peter Laviolette said postgame Saturday.
Due to that answer, El-Bashir then asked if what happened was related to the injury Oshie suffered in late October which kept him out of 11-straight games.
“I’m not sure,” Laviolette said. “Just the way he left, and so he’s got some sort of upper-body injury. We’ll go back and access it and see how he is tomorrow. But I don’t know if it’s identical or exact. I think just because of the history you’re always a little bit more concerned about that.”
Oshie has missed 49 of the last 115 games over the past two seasons. The Capitals are 14-7-1 this season with Oshie in the lineup and 9-3-1 since he returned from injury.
Dowd on the other hand has a less obvious issue. According to the Capitals’ Mike Vogel, the fourth-line pivot came off the ice for the team’s morning skate on Saturday far earlier than normal.
#Caps are on the ice for warm-ups, and I'm not seeing Nic Dowd out there. He came off much earlier than usual after today's am skate. Nicolas Aube-Kubel is on ice for warm-ups, and may be in lineup for third straight game. He started season with Leafs, getting into six games.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) December 17, 2022
The Capitals are currently carrying two extra forwards so if Oshie and Dowd are truly just day-to-day and due back in the coming days, the team should be fine to carry on without callups from the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel filled in on the fourth line for Dowd against Toronto. Joe Snively, who has not played since November 15 against the Florida Panthers, is the other extra man up front.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
