The Washington Capitals will take the ice inside Capital One Arena for the first time in 2023 on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres. It will also be the first time this season that the Caps and Sabres match up with one another.
Veteran winger TJ Oshie says he expects to be in the Caps’ lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury. Oshie has been skating regularly post the league’s holiday break.
“I guess I got completely out of pain around Christmas,” Oshie told the AP’s Stephen Whyno. “It’s been a little bit since then so I’ve been able to train and condition. Get back in shape. [I] feel good.”
Caps head coach Peter Laviolette was a little more non-committal on Oshie’s return as The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir says Lavy preferred to label the forward as a “game-time decision”.
The veteran bench boss had Oshie get reps on the team’s first power play unit at Monday’s practice and did not have him get in extra work with the normal scratches after Tuesday’s morning skate.
“We’re going to go in and check,” Laviolette replied Monday when asked if Oshie was a possibility against Buffalo. “We’ll probably have a better idea in the morning just seeing how he comes out of the skate today. If conversations go well, he’s probably a little bit ahead of others. If he was ready, we just wanted to get him the reps on the power play to make sure he was ready.”
The Capitals have gone 5-0-1 since Oshie left the lineup after suffering his injury backchecking against the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 17. Jumping back into the fray and potentially messing up some built-up chemistry is something that Oshie tells Whyno that he is very much cognizant of.
“Just don’t want to mess it up,” Oshie said. “I just want to just do the same thing. I’m going to play the same way, whether the team is losing or the team is winning. I’m excited just to jump on the bandwagon here.”
Unlike Oshie, it does not appear that Tom Wilson or Nicklas Backstrom will have any chance of featuring against the Sabres. According to El-Bashir, both players, who are seeking their season debuts, took the scratches’ skate on Tuesday morning.
“They’re working,” Laviolette said of his two injured stars. “They look good to me. They’re really skating hard and working hard out here and so they’re moving in the right direction, trending in the right direction.”
My two faves are looking gooood!!!!! So happy for a comeback soon!!! @rmnb #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Y59rtZbAMa
— Rashelle (@rashelle_wilcox) January 3, 2023
El-Bashir adds that Darcy Kuemper will be getting the start in net for the Caps. Kuemper returns to the cage after taking an overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators last week that saw him stop 41 of 45 shots that he faced.
Kuemper will have his work cut out for him again as the Sabres will come into the action scorers of 137 goals this season which is tied with the Dallas Stars for the second-most in the league. The young team currently sits out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture with 38 points from 35 games but have won 7 of their last 10.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
