Latest Capitals injury report is very concerning

The Washington Capitals held their morning skate at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina ahead of their Halloween matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite coming off a big 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators it looks like the Caps will be without two big pieces for a while. Those pieces are T.J. Oshie and John Carlson, who each suffered injuries in the first period of that game.

Let’s start with Oshie. He did not travel with the team to North Carolina He is out indefinitely with a lower body injury, joining Connor Brown in that aspect.

Carlson also suffered a lower body injury but unlike Oshie, Carlson’s is less severe as he is just day to day.

Oshie hurt himself during a power play. He appeared to =pull something while he chased the puck. Then he left the game going down the tunnel to the training room.

Carlson’s injury came from an awkward fall where he played for just seven seconds before heading down the tunnel and leaving the game.

It looks like Connor McMichael will be filling in for Oshie on the second line right wing position. The defensive pairs have been shuffled up.

Trevor van Riemsdyk is now on the top pair with Dmitry Orlov. Martin Fehervary is next to Nick Jensen. Erik Gustafsson is paired with Matt Irwin in the third spot.

Here are the lines and defensive pairs from morning skate via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:

Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary

Johansson-Kuznetsov-McMichael

Protas-Eller-Mantha

Malenstyn-Dowd-Hathaway

Orlov-TvR

Fehervary-Jensen

Gustafsson-Irwin

The Capitals could not afford any more injuries and these two injuries couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Capitals have a challenging November schedule with games every other day and they’ll need to have that next man up mentality in order to succeed in this challenging upcoming month.

The Capitals take on the Hurricanes tonight at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington plus.