TJ Oshie hit an impressive milestone against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Oshie scored his 300th career goal after finding the back of the net on a first period power-play. Set up in the bumper spot, Oshie fired a one timer past Jake Allen short side as the Canadiens goaltender slid helplessly across the crease. Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin registered assists on the play.
For the 37-year-old Oshie, the goal marked his tenth goal of the 2023-24 season and the 190th of his Capitals’ career — ninth most in franchise history. His other 110 goals came with the St. Louis Blues — the team who originally selected him at the 2005 NHL Draft.
“It was a great play by Stromer there,” Oshie said to Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken during the first intermission. “I’m just trying to find a little sweet spot, a little soft spot. Not a ton of movement. There was a lot of movement before that, that I think kind of set up their penalty kill and tired them out a little bit. I’m pretty comfortable in that spot, have been since Backy was feeding me all those goals. A lot of guys in that dressing room and the dressing rooms I was in in St. Louis to thank for getting to 300.”
Somewhat incredibly, Oshie has the third-most goals from the 2005 draft class, trailing only Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby (580) and Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar (409).
After the game, head coach Spencer Carbery gave Oshie the goal puck.
“PP, as good a power play as we’ve had all year,” Carbery said proudly. “That whatever it was, call it a minute straight (of pressure). Osh finishes it off. 300 career goals.”
The locker room broke into a loud applause.
“Everything I do is for you guys,” Oshie said in his speech. “I wouldn’t be there without you. Thank you.”
Afterward, Oshie took a photo with his two assist men, who got him to the milestone.
“I don’t really keep anything, so this will be one of the first pucks I’ve kept,” Oshie said. “I keep my hat trick pucks and give them to the kids. This one means a lot, coming into the year and the last couple years a lot of time out of the lineup with injuries. I don’t really have many milestones that are goals that I set for myself, but this is one coming into the year I wanted to reach, so it feels good.”
Oshie’s other goal is to reach 1,000 NHL games. He currently sits at 994 games played, meaning he could reach quadruple digits as soon as March 1.
“That’s one of the other ones I was hoping to get this year,” he said. “But whenever it comes, coming into the Caps, I wasn’t necessarily considered a goal scorer so to get to 300 obviously says a lot about the linemates I’ve had here and happy to get there. I don’t get there without some world class hockey players at my side.”
Since Washington traded for him ahead of the 2015-16 season, Oshie’s 190 goals with the Caps ranks second, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (361g). He’s scored 25 or more goals four different times in DC.
Congrats, TJ!
