The Washington Capitals will be without TJ Oshie again when they take on the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Arena on Tuesday night.
Head coach Spencer Carbery ruled the veteran winger out during his pregame media availability. Oshie did not practice with the team at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Monday ahead of their trip up to New York for what was officially called a “maintenance day” by Carbery.
Oshie will have missed 27 games this season due to injury when puck drops against the Sabres. The most games he can play in the 2023-24 regular season will be 55, which is three fewer than last season.
The 37-year-old winger has struggled with reoccurring back issues for several years and notably underwent a procedure on the problem last spring. Oshie made a trip up to Minnesota in December to get treatment from his chiropractor and recently credited another chiropractor for allowing him to dress for his 1,000th NHL game in Vancouver.
“There was a couple different instances where I thought that maybe getting to this point was in jeopardy, but through phenomenal support at home: from my wife and kids and close friends…and through chiro in [Minnesota], chiro along the way on the road trip last week, a couple different ones, training staff, teammates, everything, they all made this possible for me,” he told reporters a week ago. “It was a tough road and no way could (I) have gotten here alone.”
Oshie has 22 points (11g, 11a) in 47 games this year. He had four points (1g, 3a) in nine games during March.
Scenes before the Sabres#ALLCAPS | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/Zfu55rCGzo
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 2, 2024
The Capitals will also be without veteran forward Tom Wilson as he serves the last game of his six-game suspension for high-sticking Toronto’s Noah Gregor. Wilson skated in Oshie’s top-line spot at practice on Monday, but Nicolas Aube-Kubel will jump into action in place of Oshie against the Sabres.
Aube-Kubel was a healthy scratch against the Boston Bruins on Saturday after he skated just 4:20 against the Detroit Red Wings a few days earlier. He could end up sliding into that vacant right wing spot with Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael as he did on March 22 when Oshie was last out of the lineup.
Rasmus Sandin, the other Capitals skater dealing with an injury issue, will be back in action on the second defense pairing after he was a late scratch against the Bruins. Vincent Iorio received his season debut against Boston when Sandin couldn’t go but will head up to the press box in Buffalo if the lineup from Monday’s skate was any indication. Iorio skated on an extra defense pair with fellow scratch Matthew Phillips.
Charlie Lindgren will get the first start in April and his fifth in a row. Lindgren is coming off a fantastic March where he went 9-4 with a 2.45 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage, and two shutouts. This will be his first start this season against the Sabres as Darcy Kuemper took Buffalo down 4-3 in overtime on November 22.
The Capitals need to earn at least a point in the matchup to move back into third place in the Metropolitan Division after the Philadelphia Flyers won on Monday night. Buffalo will be celebrating Jeff Skinner’s 1,000th NHL game after they were shut out by the Maple Leafs 3-0 in their last outing.
Puck drop is scheduled for a little after 7 pm.
