Capitals Share Latest On Oshie, Concern Level 'Fairly High' After Forward Injured & Helped Off Ice Against Lightning; Oshie Says 'I'll Be Back'

The Capitals winger suffered a non-contact injury in the third period of Thursday's win over the Lightning.

The Washington Capitals lost a key piece of the lineup on Thursday when T.J. Oshie went down with an injury in the third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and head coach Spencer Carbery didn't have too encouraging of an update.

Oshie will be re-evaluated on Friday, but the concern level for him is "fairly high," the Capitals bench boss told reporters on Thursday.

"It's never a good sign when you see a player leaving the ice like that," Carbery added.

The 37-year-old took to social media to offer his own update.

"I'll be back. Thanks for the love, Caps fans. #NoBadDays," Oshie wrote on X.

Oshie was skating with the puck in the third period and turned to make a pass before he appeared to tweak something. He did not take any contact on the play, and it's unclear what the exact injury is.

The 37-year-old went down in visible pain and was lying by the bench as trainer Jason Serbus attended to him. Oshie then crawled to the bench and got help sitting up. After taking a moment, he slid down the bench and was brought to his feet by Darcy Kuemper before trainers helped Oshie down the tunnel.

Oshie was playing in his 996th career NHL game and had extended his point streak to three games before going down with the injury. Just over a month ago, Oshie made his return from back-to-back injuries that held him out for a good part of the season in late November, most of December and part of January.

Through 38 games this season, Oshie has 10 goals and eight assists.

With Oshie out, Aliaksei Protas played in his spot on the wing and helped set up Rasmus Sandin's game-winning goal. The team does have an extra right winger, with Pierrick Dubé having been recalled in wake of Nic Dowd's day-to-day injury.

Losing Oshie long-term would be a major blow for the Capitals, who are already operating without Dowd, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Martin Fehervary and Nicklas Backstrom.