Caps, Canes see hit on Oshie differently, but result is the same
A series that already offered no shortage of controversy, arguments over officiating and ugly injuries managed to conjure another Thursday night. The Washington Capitals lost T.J. Oshie apparently for the rest of the series with what looked like a shoulder or arm injury after a slight push from behind by Warren Foegele sent Oshie awkwardly into the boards late in the third period of the Hurricanes’ 2-1 win.
There were two very divergent views of the play: Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour thought it was only a penalty because Oshie was injured; Capitals coach Todd Reirden essentially argued for Foegele to be suspended.
“It was a defenseless player that was quite a distance from the boards,” Reirden said. “That’s an extremely dangerous play. He will not be with our team for a while. He won’t be playing anytime soon. That’s something that’s going to be reviewed by the league.”
Brind’Amour disagreed.
“I thought he just pushed him,” Brind’Amour said. “There wasn’t a penalty being called, and then obviously he crashed into the boards hard and that’s when the arm goes up because he stayed down. You don’t like to see that. I think more than anything he was just not ready for the hit.
“We see a lot of hits that are way, way worse than that. I think he just went in awkward. I don’t know the extent of the injury or whatever but he barely hit him, I thought. He gave him a little shove but it certainly wasn’t what you were seeing out here all series.”
ANOTHER LOSS Already missing Andrei Svechnikov and Micheal Ferland, the Carolina Hurricanes lost yet another forward in Game 4. Jordan Martinook reaggravated a nagging right leg injury after an awkward but upright crash into the end boards in the first period.
Martinook needed help off the ice and tried to return later in the first, but wasn’t effective on one leg. After taking a spin on the ice to start the second period, Martinook returned to the dressing room and smashed his stick against the wall in the hallway.
“I guess you could say he reaggravated it,” Brind’Amour said. “He wanted to give it a go, and he couldn’t.”
Svechnikov (concussion protocol) remains out, although he went through a full on-ice workout Thursday morning and could potentially return for Game 5 in Washington on Saturday, hard as that would have been to believe Monday. Ferland (“upper body”) also remains out.
WELCOME BACK Calvin de Haan made his return to the lineup after missing six games with an “upper body” injury, replacing Haydn Fleury alongside Trevor van Riemsdyk. De Haan played 12:21, mostly in the first two periods as Brind’Amour shortened his bench in the third.
“I thought he was solid,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought he put some good minutes in. It’s tough when you’ve been out for a long time and have to come into a playoff game. That’s as tough as it can get. He gave us some good minutes and I would hope or assume he would get better as we go along.”
TAILWINDS John Forslund will move from the FS Carolinas booth to the NBC booth for Saturday’s Game 5, anchoring NBC’s national coverage along with analysts Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire. With no FS Carolinas simulcast, Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy will handle the Hurricanes radio broadcast. … Thursday’s attendance of 19,202 set a new PNC Arena record for a hockey game. … Teuvo Teravainen needed stitches under his nose after getting high-sticked in the face with the Washington net empty; no penalty was called.
This story was originally published April 18, 2019 at 10:58 PM.
