The Washington Capitals have “pretty significant” concerns about forward TJ Oshie, coach Spencer Carbery said Thursday, after the forward suffered a non-concussive injury midway through the third period of a 5-3 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning it was physical contact.
Speaking Friday, Carbery said Oshie is not expected to play when the Capitals visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; MNMT, BSFL), but would not speculate on a schedule beyond that.
“Obviously he left the game and we will continue to monitor him,” Carbery said. “I don’t think this is a skate today or skate tomorrow situation, but I don’t want to tell you anything definitive about the schedule or anything like that. We’ll just keep watching him.”
Oshie was injured trying to hold on to the puck at the blue line. He then crawled off the ice and sat briefly on the bench before being helped through the tunnel.
“I’ll be back,” Oshie posted on X after the game. “Thank you for the lovely Caps fans. #NoBadDays.”
Carbery was asked whether he thought Oshie's injury was less serious than initially feared.
“Yes and no,” he said. “Just too early to tell. We are just monitoring him and will know more in the near future.”
Washington (26-21-8), which has won three straight, trails the Lightning by five points and earns the Eastern Conference's second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Carbery said forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who scored Washington's first goal on Thursday, is a candidate to move into the front line along with Alex Ovechkin and Connor Brown in Oshie's absence.
The Capitals recalled forward Hendrix Lapierre from Hershey of the American Hockey League on Friday. The 21-year-old has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 25 games for the Capitals this season. He last played for Washington on January 18th.
“We're still sorting things out, but I think with 'Kuby' coming back into the lineup (after being left out of the last two games), I thought he had a really strong game last night , not just a goal. There were a lot of wall plays, some forecheck battles, some good puck decisions… but Kuby played really well last night where he deserves a little more opportunity, possibly tomorrow.
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report