Washington Capitals’ TJ Oshie and John Carlson leave the game early

The Washington Capitals took a heavy injury hit Saturday, as winger TJ Oshie and defenseman John Carlson left the game early with lower-body injuries.

Oshie’s injury happened early in the first period, when he tweaked something in his leg on a backcheck. He skated without moving his left leg before returning to the bench and did not play for the rest of the game.

Carlson’s injury occurred midway through the first period after he suffered a nasty, awkward fall during a battle with Nashville Predators winger Michael McCarron. Carlson had an awkward balance coming out of the fight, which caused him to fall into the boards.

Oshie has struggled with injuries throughout his career as he hasn’t played at least 70 games in a season since 2017-18 and hasn’t played at least 80 since 2015-16, although he hasn’t missed only a few games in the pandemic-shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21. He is coming off the second-lowest points total of his career, with just 11 goals, 14 assists and 25 points, despite playing just 44 games in 2021-22. He has two goals, three assists and five points in eight games so far this season.

Carlson’s injury history hasn’t been as bad as Oshie’s, having only missed 10 games over the past five seasons. He’s off to a strong start this year with two goals, four assists and six points in eight games this season, after reaching his second season with 71 points in 2021-22.

While Oshie and Carlson are big losses on their own, it’s even worse for the Capitals considering who else they’ve lost this season so far. Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin are yet to play this season, while new additions Connor Brown played four games before being placed on the injured list.