Photo: Geoff Burke
The Washington Capitals had just grabbed some momentum in the third period when TJ Oshie scored on a wrist shot that eluded Ben Bishop. The goal made the game 3-2.
Then Matt Niskanen happened.
TJ Oshie might be tiny, but he sure can land a hit. Last Thursday, Oshie went hockey bowling and knocked over two Panthers in one hit. Against the Penguins on Monday, Oshie injured forward Beau Bennett with devastating (but legal) shoulder check into the boards.
Photo: Robert Mayer
The Caps are down 1-0 to the Panthers, and TJ Oshie doesn’t like that one bit.
He showed his displeasure by dispatching Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov and defenseman Steven Kampfer with one beautiful hit, a Vined by the team.
By Nathan Burchfiel 5 years ago
Dmitry Orlov is having himself a game against the Bruins. He assisted on Brooks Laich’s second period goal. A shift later he leveled Matt Beleskey at center ice in what looked like a hockey car crash. Beleskey had his head down and Orlov caught him right in the chest at center ice.
Watch the carnage and Beleskey’s stick fly out of his hands.
Poor Mike Green has been injured again. This time after some apparent bad blood between Detroit and Calgary.
The former Caps defenseman was hurt after being teed up by Flames center Josh Jooris behind the Wings’ net.
By Nathan Burchfiel 5 years ago
Photo: NY Times
Alex Ovechkin has been an elite goal scorer since he first set foot in the NHL. He’s also has been one of the most feared body checkers in the league too. For instance, in Ovechkin’s first game as a Capital 10 years ago, he dislodged a pane of glass while hitting a Columbus Blue Jacket player behind the net.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger (which airs in its entirety this weekend), Ovechkin was asked what his biggest hit was.
“Probably [Jaromir] Jagr in Olympics,” Ovechkin said.
Matt Niskanen is usually a pretty steady player who doesn’t look for big hits. But when he does look to lower the boom, boy is it brutal.
Late in the second period of game six, former Capital Mikhail Grabovski tried to carry the puck behind Braden Holtby‘s net. Instead, he was crushed with a beautiful shoulder-to-shoulder hit by Niskanen.
This is why I roll my eyes when people tell me on Twitter Mike Green is soft. Nope.
Tom Wilson has an issue with penalties. He draws a ton and commits a ton. On Tuesday he caught a kneeing penalty in the second period. No worries: the Capitals killed it with ease.
But immediately after leaving the Willy bin, Wilson executed the biggest hit we’ve seen these playoffs.
Poor Lubomir Visnovsky, repeated concussion victim, was skating with his head down and hunched over. Wilson stopped moving his legs but didn’t shy away from the hit.
During game three on Sunday, Washington Capitals forward Eric Fehr absorbed a clean, shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Islanders forward Kyle Okposo. Fehr, who has a history of shoulder injuries, was pressed into the boards, his right shoulder first.
He left the game. His return is questionable.
