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TJ Oshie remains on third line after ‘clicking’ with Eller and Connolly

By Ian Oland

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January 8, 2018 2:07 pm

Barry Trotz seems to be sticking with some lineup changes he made during the Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues Sunday, with TJ Oshie practicing on the third line with Lars Eller and Brett Connolly after breaking a five-game pointless streak.

As reported by NBC Sports Washington’s Tarik El-Bashir, Devante Smith-Pelly practiced on the first line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, while Andre Burakovsky remains in Trotz’s doghouse and rotated in rather than practicing on a line.

In an interview with the Caps media after practice Monday, Oshie commended his new linemates.

Oshie noted that Eller “does a really good job at moving to space, and getting open and demanding the puck” while Connolly has a lot of speed and is “very good at kind of finding those support areas.”

“I don’t know what I was doing, but it ended up all clicking for us and we had a lot of fun the second half of the game playing together,” Oshie concluded.

Oshie tallied two assists in last night’s game, including an apple on Nicklas Backstrom’s game-winning overtime goal. After the game, Trotz told The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan “that was the old Osh.”

In another more humorous report from Monday’s practice, El-Bashir shared video of Jakub Vrana doing push ups on the ice as punishment for an unspecific penalty. He must have taken one during practice; Vrana didn’t record any PIMs during Sunday’s game, though he did draw a trip on the Blues’ Jay Bouwmeester.

Photo: Patrick McDermott

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