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At the end of a very long night, Capitals forward, T.J. Oshie had two stitches on the side of her left eye and a broad smile stuck on her face. When he was helped in the locker room at 4:33 pm, his teammates assumed he would not be back on the ice for the rest of the night. He had already survived an injury earlier in the evening, but two, it was probably too much.
Oshie was determined to come back, jumping on a stationary bike, answering questions and then passing a balance test. He managed to cross the concussion protocol and found his way back to the bench with less than four minutes to play.
"You're a little excited when you're not allowed out and you have to watch your teammates," Oshie said. "I did not see him on TV, but all the guys who were not playing were in a part of the training room and when I went out, they said that Pittsburgh brought it to us and [goaltender Braden Holtby] was standing on his head. "
By collecting a pass from defenseman John Carlson in the slot, Oshie scored the decisive goal while he remained 1:14 to play in the settlement to allow the Capitals to win 2-1 over the Penguins. Washington has won two straight games for the first time this season.
[Summary: Capitals 2, Penguins 1]
"You never want to see a teammate in this situation, but the term" warrior "is mentioned, and it's T.J. Oshie on a T-shirt," said Holtby. "The way our game was going, once it came back, gave us life. Guys like him, leaders like him, they know when to introduce themselves. You can say once that he's back on the ice that he had the mission to score and give it to them that way. "
Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington) and Patric Hornqvist (Pittsburgh) compete in the first half at Capital One Arena. (Will Newton / Getty Images)
Less than five minutes into the match, Penguins defender Olli Maatta hit Oshie in the face with a high stick. The blade passes under Oshie's visor and catches it near the eyes. He missed the rest of the period and had two stitches before returning for the start of the second period.
While the game was tied at 1 to start the third period, center Capitals, Travis Boyd, was called to hold the ball, and in the power play that followed, Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh was called for a Illegal control of Oshie's head when his shoulder collided with Oshie and hit him on the ground. Malkin was ejected and Oshie had to be helped to leave the ice and go to the locker room.
"He thought maybe I had hit him, so he threw his shoulder back, which I try to do all the time," Oshie said. "I did it at least once tonight. I did not expect it to be on the [penalty kill]. You do not usually go for hits. He caught me there, and that's what it is. I spent my concussion test, I went out and I won the game. We feel good here.
Although the NHL's player safety department is looking closely at the shot, the preliminary indication is that it will not lead to additional discipline for Malkin, as he seemed ready to suffer the impact of Oshie.
[[[[Barry Svrluga: An unpleasant match against the rival Penguins was exactly what the Capitals needed]
Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby makes a save on a shot by Dominik Simon (12) of the Penguins, while defenseman Christian Djoos (29) clears him in front of goal. Holtby finished with 41 saves. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)
"It's definitely a blow to the head," said Washington coach Todd Reirden. "That's why we had to have T.J. quit and go through a concussion protocol. These are things we try to remove from the game. . . We are really lucky that it is not something more serious and that he has been able to return. "
Malkin was sentenced to a major penalty, so the Capitals had nearly four minutes of power play. But they were not able to capitalize and after the match, Holtby said the bad ice conditions may have played a role in this situation. Although Washington lost momentum after a failed power play, he recovered it from Oshie's return.
"He had fresh legs," Carlson said. "The two teams were kind of exhausted at the time. You could say that he was very cool and that he was able to do anything with nothing, really. . . . He was on the wall. It's probably one of the fastest, I think I saw him skate, at the top of the circle, and I just tried to play him a game. And there was enough traffic in front so the goalkeeper would not know. not really where I was coming from. "
Because it was the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, it started with Alex Ovechkin against Sidney Crosby, the two captains and the biggest stars of their generation, scoring the first two goals of the game. Holtby and Casey DeSmith of Pittsburgh keep the score tight at 1. Holtby won this match with his best performance in what was a stormy start to the season, saving 41 shots.
Like his team-mates, Holtby had an uneven start to the season, with brilliant moments and costly mistakes. Upon entering the match, he had a 3.62 goals-against average and .888 save percentage. On Wednesday night, he took a few breaks with several shots of the Penguins who bounced off the goal posts, but he seemed suspended while he was blocking 25 shots in the first 40 minutes.
He continued to save them time in the third period until returning from Oshie and was worth the considerable beating that he took all night.
"I do not know if I've ever had one like this," Oshie said. "But it was nice to come back there both times. I have to cry out to the training staff and doctors every time. They did a good job of making sure everything was fine, and I probably could have gone out a lot earlier, but they wanted to be 100%. Thanks to them."
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