The Washington Capitals lost Game 4 Thursday night in Raleigh, but the defeat may be the least of their worries.
Late in the third period, with the Hurricanes up 2-1, Capitals forward
T.J. Oshie suffered an arm injury after being hit from behind by Carolina forward
Warren Foegele.
A huge blow to #Caps: T.J. Oshie goes down with injury in Game 4 loss. #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/7i2otQjYLx
— Ben Krimmel (@BenKrimmel)
April 19, 2019 TJ Oshie is hurt pic.twitter.com/YIK2JjeICQ
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn)
April 19, 2019 That was not a good hit at all and Oshie stayed down on the ice for some time before slowly skating to toward the Capitals' dressing room.
Oshie owie pic.twitter.com/LXyyufLuAF
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg)
April 19, 2019 Oshie's status will likely remain a mystery, but odds are he will be unviable for Game 5 Saturday night in Washington.
The #Caps and #Canes will now play a best-of-three series starting on Saturday night at home. TJ Oshie left with an injury late. His status is a major storyline moving forward.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen)
April 19, 2019 Foegele, who scored the Canes' first goal after just 17 seconds of play, was penalized for boarding on the play. Unfortunately for the Caps, it was only asses a two-minute minor for boarding.
Now there's NHL officiating - Foegele's push from behind was clearly a penalty and should probably be a major, but the ref doesn't get his arm up until he sees Oshie is hurt
— Driving Play (@DrivingPlay)
April 19, 2019 Two minute "minor" for boarding.
— RMNB (@russianmachine)
April 19, 2019 What a terrible, dirty hit.
— Michael Jenkins (@JenksNBCS)
April 19, 2019 "They're gonna give Warren Foegele two minutes boarding here as Oshie is off to the locker room with head trainer Jason Serbus," Caps announcer John Walton said returning from commercial break. "That is a big issue, as T.J. went shoulder-first and hard into the boards, and T.J. is smarting."
"And Ken (Sabourin), that's potentially a big problem for this team," he said. "But right now they've got a power play to try to get this game tied."
After the game, Caps head coach Todd Reirden delivered the bad news.
"It was a defenseless player that was quite a distance away from the boards," Reirden told the media. "It's an extremely dangerous play and (Oshie) will not be with our team for a while."
Grant Halverson/Getty Images