Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Thursday that he has “fairly high” concerns about forward TJ O'Shea, after the forward suffered an injury midway through the third period of a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Speaking on Friday, Carberry said Oshie is not expected to play when the Capitals visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; MNMT, BSFL), but he would not speculate on a timetable after that.
“He obviously left the game and we will continue to monitor him,” Carberry said. “I don't think this is a skating situation today or tomorrow, but I don't want to tell you anything specific about the timeline or anything like that. We'll just continue to monitor it.”
Oshie was injured while moving to set up the puck at the blue line. He then crawled off the ice and sat on the bench briefly before being helped down the tunnel.
“I'll be back,” Oshie posted on X after the match. “Thank you Love Hats fans. #NoBadDays.”
Carberry was asked if he thought O'Shea's injury was less serious than initially feared.
He said: “Yes and no.” “It's too early to know. We're just monitoring it and we'll know more in the near future.”
Washington (26-21-8), which has won three in a row, is five points behind the Lightning for the second wild card into the Eastern Conference's Stanley Cup playoffs.
Carbery said striker Nicola Obi-Kubile, who scored Washington's first goal on Thursday, is a candidate to move to the first line with Alex Ovechkin and Connor Brown in Oshie's absence.
The Capitals recalled forward Hendrix Lapierre from the American Hockey League's Hershey team on Friday. The 21-year-old has seven points (two goals and five assists) in 25 games with the Capitals this season. He last played for Washington on January 18.
“We're still processing it but I think with Kobe back in the lineup (after being scratched the previous two games), I thought he had a really solid game last night, not just a goal. There was a lot of wall play, some forehand battles, And some good puck decisions….but Kobe played really well last night where he deserves a little more of a chance, maybe tomorrow.
NHL.com staff writer Tom Giolitti contributed to this report
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