Caps’ Oshie listed day-to-day after leaving vs. Maple Leafs originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Capitals winger T.J. Oshie is day to day with an upper-body injury after being forced to leave Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs early. He joined center Nic Dowd, who missed the game with a lower-body ailment, in sitting out Sunday’s optional skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
“Just the way he left, he’s got some sort of upper body injury and we will go back and assess it and see how he is [Sunday],” head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters in his postgame press conference on Saturday night. “I don’t know if it is identical [to his previous injury] or exact, but I think just because of the history you are just a little bit more concerned about that.”
Laviolette added that “because of the history, there is always a concern” whenever Oshie exits a game with an injury. The 35-year-old has spent time on Injured Reserve each of the last three seasons including an 11-game absence earlier this year. His presence on the ice has been vital to the team’s success. The Capitals are 14-7-1 with him and 2-6-3 without him in 2022-23.
Washington was already missing Dowd and backup goaltender Hunter Shepard (upper body) heading into Saturday’s contest, both of whom were new additions to the Capitals’ large number of players to miss time this season. Nicolas Aube-Kubel took Dowd’s spot on the active roster with Aliaksei Protas moving from wing to center.
The Capitals replaced Shepard, who has not yet made his NHL debut, with Hershey Bears netminder Zach Fucale for Saturday’s game. He was not needed, however as Charlie Lindgren — still starting in the place of the injured Darcy Kuemper — held the Maple Leafs to two goals on 36 shots to raise his record to 6-1 in Kuemper’s absence.
