With the Capitals-Lightning tied 3-3 late in the third period, TJ Oshie suffered a non-contact injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Oshie pulled up lame after curling in the offensive zone and making a pass to Dylan Strome on his backhand. In serious pain, he crawled off the ice and had to be helped to the locker room.
After the game, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was asked what his concern level was.
“It’s fairly high,” he said. “We’ll evaluate but I’ll know more tomorrow. It’s never a good sign when you see a player leaving the ice like that.”
Oshie, seemingly aware of fans’ worries about his status, took to Twitter after the game trying to assuage concerns.
“I’ll be back,” Oshie said. “Thanks for the love caps fans. ❤️ #NoBadDays”
I’ll be back. Thanks for the love caps fans. ❤️ #NoBadDays
— TJ Oshie (@TJOshie77) February 23, 2024
The Capitals dug deep and immediately responded after their popular alternate captain went down with injury. Rasmus Sandin gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead after burying a shot from the slot three minutes and seven seconds after Oshie exited.
Connor McMichael would go on to ice the game with an empty-net goal.
“I think we’re all worried about him in the moment,” John Carlson said. “I think any time you want to do something better for the guy that goes down. It was a good effort from everybody to stay composed and keep pressing. Our forecheck got us a lot of the chances tonight, a lot of the zone time, a lot of the looks in goal.
“I think when a good team starts coming like they were, it’s easy to sag back and make sure we’re not making any of the big mistakes. Like we saw last game in the third period, we did a better job attacking the game, attacking with the lead. That was two isolated plays a in a short amount of time. I think we were attacking up to that point and certainly after.”
“We’ve got a few guys that went down in the lineup, a few important pieces,” McMichael added. “You’re trying to step up and contribute where you can whether its face-offs, penalty kill.”
Thursday night marks the third straight contest where the Capitals have lost a player mid-game. Defenseman Martin Fehervary is out week-to-week after suffering a lower-body injury against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, while center Nic Dowd sustained an upper-body injury against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and is now considered day-to-day.
If Oshie is out for any considerable amount of time, the team may need to further dip into Hershey’s ranks to fill out the roster. The team already promoted Pierrick Dubé on Wednesday with Nic Dowd unable to join the team on the two-game Florida road trip.
“It obviously sucks to lose players, but at some point, it happens to every team during the season,” Sandin said trying to look at the positives. “At the same time, at the same time, other players are stepping up and playing really good hockey.”
