T.J. Oshie Had A Very Rough Night That Ended Perfectly

The Penguins and Capitals were tied 1-1 through 58 minutes of play tonight, but the real loser of the night already appeared to be Washington winger T.J. Oshie. Oshie found himself on the receiving end of a couple of hard knocks by Pittsburgh, which took him out of the game twice even though the poor guy was just trying to play hockey. It all turned out alright, though.

First, in the opening period, Oshie got hit in the face by an accidental high-stick on his left eye by Olli Maatta. He left the game for the locker room, but would return at the start of the second.

And then later on, in the third, Oshie took a very hard and not-so-accidental hit to the head from Evgeni Malkin as the Penguins forward skated into the offensive zone. Malkin would get an ejection for that hit, while Oshie would once again go back to the locker room.

At this moment, you couldn’t blame Oshie for thinking, “Well, it’s just not my night,” and taking the rest of the game off. But Oshie came back, and his perseverance was all worth it in the end. With 1:15 to go before the end of regulation, Oshie took a pass from John Carlson in a perfect spot right in front of the net, and he didn’t hesitate to bury the winner past a diving Casey DeSmith.

A game-winner against your arch-rival is even better than Vicodin.