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.
#Caps lines: 8-19-25; 13-92-43; 10-20-77; and 18-83-39. Oshie stays on the third line. DSP remains on the top line. Burakovsky, meanwhile, appears to be rotating in.
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) January 8, 2018
In an interview with the Caps media after practice Monday, Oshie commended his new linemates.
“It ended up all clicking for us.” — T.J. Oshie on finding quick chemistry with new linemates Lars Eller and Brett Connolly. #Caps pic.twitter.com/9ztwc6zqx4
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) January 8, 2018
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.”
Oshie snapped a five-game pointless streak with his two assists tonight. Trotz: "I just thought that was the old Osh. He was just playing and being a hockey player and winning every battle."
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 8, 2018
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.
Penalty = push-ups for Vrana in today’s #Caps practice. pic.twitter.com/2dtLd30y78
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) January 8, 2018
Photo: Patrick McDermott
