Home / News / TJ Oshie scored two PPGs against the Lightning. He now has three goals in three games to start the season.

TJ Oshie scored two PPGs against the Lightning. He now has three goals in three games to start the season.

By Ian Oland

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October 10, 2017 1:18 am

Last season, TJ Oshie scored a career-high 33 goals after shooting a league-high 23.09%. Oshie is unlikely to continue that trend this season, yet after the first three games of the year, the Caps forward is scoring at an even higher clip (37.5%).

Monday, Oshie collected his first two-goal game of the season, tallying two power-play markers in the Capitals 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He now has three goals in three games.

Goal 1

Oshie’s first goal came on a deflection of a John Carlson point shot in the first period. Set up near the crease, Oshie somehow got his twig on the biscuit, buttering it to the top corner of the net.

Goal 2

Later in the second period, Oshie one-timed a puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy after a beautiful sauce pass by Nicklas Backstrom. Oshie clanged the puck off the post and in to put the Caps up 3-1.

But Oshie’s two tallies would not be enough. The Lightning would go on to score the game’s next three goals, winning in overtime after a perfect deflection by Brayden Point on the power play.

“We didn’t do a great job of playing 200-foot hockey,” Oshie said to NHL.com. “Once we got the lead it’s almost like we sat back and almost played a little too passive. [Grubauer] held them off for as long as he could back there. He had a great night.”

Early this season, the Capitals have scored on three of their first nine power pays, adding several new wrinkles to the team’s 1-3-1 setup. The team has been more aggressive about funneling the puck up the middle when Alex Ovechkin, lying in wait in the Ovi Spot, is heavily guarded. Evgeny Kuznetsov (two power-play assists) is operating in Marcus Johansson’s spot near the net, which has opened up even more space for the team’s finishers. Oshie was the benefactor Monday night.

The two PPGs weren’t the only ways Oshie got on the scoresheet. The winger also assisted on Nicklas Backstrom’s first-period goal. The two goals and the assist marked Oshie’s 25th career three-point game.

Full Coverage of Caps vs Lightning

Headline photo: Scott Audette

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